The Elegant Mother
by TheSilentChloey
Summary: What if Hysteria wasn't on Rockwell hill and she escaped death itself? What if Rigaldo had done something to her that forced her to be a mother? Just what would happen? Read and review for answers... Rated M for content and language Features a combo of cannon and OCs and may feature the fall of the Organization with far more powerful results!
1. Chapter I: Cheating Death

The Elegant Mother  
Chapter 1: Cheating Death

The Number 1 walked along the path, cursing her horrible luck. Just last night that foul Rigaldo had the balls to fuck her, and lost them once the deed was done. Of course he threatened her with the Organization coming after her if she said anything against him, she was sorely tempted to tell Ermita exactly what had happened and why her amour was in a mess, with blood all over it, especially between her legs, but she said nothing, blaming the damage on yoma, that she would normally be able to avoid without trouble. Ermita wouldn't believe it for a second and he didn't.  
"Gods Hysteria, just what really happened?" He asked sternly  
"Yoma of course." She replied, not saying another word.  
He sighed and nothing else was said. He would meet her and deliver new clothing to her as soon as possible, before her next job. Hysteria sighed and held her head as high as she could, she was annoyed at Rigaldo, but she would get him back, as soon as she could walk properly again. No thanks to that spineless fool, she was in pain with each step that she took, (he'd not been gentle at all, the more she screamed in pain the more he inflicted it on her) and she was forced to act as it all was ok. She fumed and her fury was growing with each passing moment that he invaded her thoughts. How he disgusted her. Yet she needed to lick her wounded pride and get on with it. She would act as if he were nothing to her. That was the only way she could inflict revenge on him, and she would do it perfectly. She would act as if he'd never touched her. Hysteria smiled to herself. Yes she would be alright. She would continue as if it had never happened. The smile however was more like a grimace, and she could feel the tears of shame running down her cheeks. She stopped and made sure that no one could see her. Crying was so ugly, so disgusting and she had to look absolutely perfect and crying ruined that perfection that she strived for.

As she walked to where she would next meet her handler, Hysteria thought on what she could do to hide the hideous bruises on her body, she didn't want to use yoki to heal them because it would be such as waste and serve only to wear her mind down. She wasn't a fool like some of her comrades. It was small wonder that she was made the Number 1 over so many warriors. She would do everything in her power to live as long as she could because that was what everyone wanted, and she wanted to live beyond the normal half yoma, and yet she wanted to heal them away because they made her look hideous. She cautiously continued forward, rather than high and proud like she would normally do. She had no reason to be proud of herself, she was angry and there was nothing that she could take it out on. To top it all off she had bruises that she wanted to forget about but each one was smarting, and they still hurt her despite the fact that nearly a whole day had passed since the rape, and really there were no other words for it in her mind. Hysteria tried to hold her head up, but she really wanted to curl in to a ball and hang it in shame instead. She was surprised that Ermita was sitting in the clearing. She stiffened her spine at once; there was no reason to let him see how depressed she was. It just wouldn't do, after all she was The Elegant Hysteria, the most beautiful of the warriors, and she wasn't known for her brooding. She came to a stop before her handler, he regarded her  
"You're new clothing is here," he sighed, "your next job is a week to the west, it is most likely a band of yoma."  
She picked up the clothing and slung it over her left shoulder, she would change later to avoid him staring at her ugly body, though he had seen her with much worse than the current bruises. She felt that she didn't want him to see a thing, as if letting him see her like this would be sure to have a worrying outcome, one that might cost Hysteria her life. No matter how bad it was, she would keep the damage to herself as much as she could. Hysteria still felt horrible, but at least it wasn't as bad as what she felt yesterday,  
"Why so modest all of a sudden?" Ermita asked,  
Hysteria shot him a withering look, but she said nothing to him, turning her back to her handler she paused for a fraction of a second, and pushed her shoulders up and murmured to herself "That I'll keep to myself Ermita,"  
"I don't like the way you're being excessively curious lately." She muttered, as she made her pained body bend to her will.

Her amour clanked as she walked into the trees for some cover and she then dropped her amour once she was out of Ermita's sight. Hysteria then removed her dirtied clothes and changed into the fresh ones that Ermita had given her. She noticed that the blood she had bled after Rigaldo fucked her had stopped, thankfully she wouldn't bleed into her new clothing, and it was a plus that she didn't expect, but she was grateful that she would have it.

It took her a week to get to her next job, by that stage the worst of the pain was a dull ache and she could move a bit better, she couldn't move as fast as she wanted, but she could outrun the yoma thankfully. She was a bit stiff, but it was nothing to her for now. The humans saw no difference in how she moved, and that was what she intended, she couldn't enjoy their shock however, so she flicked her blade and blood splatted on the ground.  
"My work is done, a man in black will collect the money, give it to him." She commanded like normal. She drew herself up and marched out of the town. The yoma had worn her out, but she didn't want to sink as low as to rest in the town after she'd killed the yoma. She wanted to camp out in the open, so that she could run from Rigaldo if he was following her. The only reason he'd gotten her was because he'd made her run where she couldn't escape, forests were particularly difficult to navigate at speed, dangerous almost unless you kept your wits about you. Hysteria kept her senses sharp and peeled for the slightest sound and movement, her back remained on the blunt of her sword as she listened to the noises in the night.

As she continued to service her region, Hysteria gradually noticed that her body was beginning to change. At first, she thought that she was sleeping more than normal because her body was still healing the bruises. She'd dismissed it and travelled harder to get to jobs. Then she found that her appetite had changed. Normally she would eat every couple of days or even as little as once a week. She now found herself eating almost every day. Hysteria was worried about the changes, but she said nothing to Ermita about them, preferring to keep them to herself as well as what had happened almost a full month and a half ago.

"So the Number 1 has been acting out of character has she Ermita?" a man with slicked back hair asked,

"I'm afraid that seems to be the case, Rimuto," Ermita replied, "I'm also afraid to say that I have lost contact with her, as of half a month ago…it may be possible that she has died, but there has been supposed sightings, so she may still be alive."

"I see," said Rimuto, "We must track her down at once! Orsay,"

"Yes sir," replied Orsay, a man whose cloak hid his face entirely from view,

"Finding the Number 1 is of upmost importance, it will be a task that I will leave fully to you," Rimuto told the cloaked man, to Ermita he said, "I expect a full report if she is found."

"Yes sir," Ermita replied, as he didn't want to displease Rimuto any further.

Rimuto sat back on his throne like chair and sighed. Of all the warriors that had to go missing, it had to be the Number 1. He closed his eyes and slowly drew in a deep breath. Of all the warriors that could go missing, why was it Hysteria? What made her want to disappear without a trace, leaving the Organization without so much as a backward glance, or a slight inclination to explain herself? It made no sense to Rimuto, unless she knew things that she shouldn't and then that in itself were a worrying thought. He just hoped that they would find her swiftly; if she refused to come then they would purge her, like they would any other warrior.

Hysteria looked at her growing stomach, and she was nervous. She soon found that wearing her amour was uncomfortable; mostly it was the armoured skirt that was causing her the discomfort. It had been almost four months since she was raped, and she noticed the bump, despite the fact that it was only small at the moment. She knew that it would grow, that she would soon have to contend with her top speed decreasing as it grew. She knew this because she could feel a very small yoki, so small in fact it had taken her a good hour to sense whatever it was moving within her, and when it did move, it wasn't until it touched her that she could sense the yoki at all. Now though as she focused on it she was getting a better idea about it. It was only very small, and she knew that it would be strong, if it was given a chance. She had decided that she would hide away, see what happened next before she made a move. Hysteria took a yoki suppressant and was surprised by how swiftly she became weak from it. She looked at her reflection in the water and she could see that her eyes were their pale blue selves from so long ago. She sighed and quietly headed to the nearest town, she had enough money to buy something to hide her sword, but she decided a little thievery was necessary, she would save the money because she might need it later on.

Hysteria managed to get a horse. She was quite lucky that the owner was a complete fool, simply hobbling the creature in the belief that that would be enough to stop any thieves from getting the animal. She shook her head at how easy it was to break the hobbles and smartly pilfered the creature and a complete set of tack. She doubted that she'd come across anyone that was stupider than the horse's owner. The animal was quiet enough around her, as if it were grateful for being freed of the hobbles, and that it was able to walk free. Hysteria's touch was light on the reigns, and thankfully the horse had a soft mouth, responding instantly to the half yoma's guidance.

She decided to make camp after they'd covered a fair amount of ground. She tethered the horse, so that it could graze and still move around a bit, without the rubbing that it had from the hobbles. Hysteria made sure that the tether was strong before she walked away to hunt.

When she returned the horse was grazing contentedly, she decided that she would offer it a drink from the nearby stream once she'd eaten. She skinned the rabbit that she'd caught, and cooked it over a fire. She was glad that she had found the rabbit warren, it had saved her a lot of time and her speed was her greatest asset when hunting them. Her stomach growled as the smell of cooking rabbit reached her nose. The suppressant had worn off so her eyes would be back to silver again now. She felt the small thing move inside of her, a little nudge every now and again that made her feel worried and excited at the same time. She wondered what she should do, but dismissed the thought. Hysteria decided that she would sleep and travel first thing in the morning.

Orsay tried not to roll his eyes as he travelled towards the last place that Ermita had seen the Number 1. So far they had spent a month trying to find her and were coming up empty handed. He cursed in frustration, normally the "eyes" would be used for such a task, but at times like these, and sometimes it was better to have a handler do the ground work. Ermita had told Orsay that Hysteria was quite smart, and suggested that he head deeper south, while Orsay and his warrior, the Number 8, Teresa take on the Number 1's possible trail. He had suggested starting at the last known location that Hysteria was at, but Orsay decided that he would look deep in the south with Teresa; the results were annoying to say the least. Orsay had to bite back his curses as Hysteria proved to be the most elusive warrior that had ever existed. He ground his teeth in frustration, and Teresa stopped,

"I think I sense something." She said suddenly,

Orsay paused,

"It's too small though, I can barely sense it." She was looking to the south of them,

"What is it Teresa," Orsay sighed,

"I don't know, because it's too small to sense." She replied, "Whatever it is, it's very weak."

Hysteria knew that the Organization would start tracking her as soon as she decided to leave them. She hid her sword and began to tack up the horse; she took the yoki suppressant, and slowly climbed on to the horse's broad back. She lifted the hood of a cloak that she had found, and made sure that passers-by wouldn't see her face. She nudged the horse in to an easy trot, when she felt the small nudge inside of her. It was soft, and she felt a small smile cross her face as she thought about it. The nudging settled and the horse trotted on.

Teresa tilted her head, the small yoki that she could sense had disappeared as if it was masked by a suppressant and she didn't know why that was. She could hear the sound of a horse's hooves beating the ground steadily, she could make out that it was trotting, and it had a person on its back. She decided to go check it out, as she looked behind her, Teresa wondered if she could slip away from Orsay.

Hysteria turned the horse towards the river; this was the only crossing that she could see the creature crossing. It paused as she gave it its head. It sniffed the water and Hysteria carefully nudged its stomach, urging it forward, letting the horse see what it had to cross. The horse walked forward,

"Easy does it," Hysteria told it, "you can make it,"

The horse's ears twitched back towards her, and then twitched forward again, the horse calmly steeped into the river. It was about halfway through the crossing when she could hear the clanking of amour; her hearing was sharper than the horse's was. She shuddered but held her pace, as the suppressant was masking her eye colour and yoki. She had been right to take it, however if it was a skilled warrior Hysteria would be in trouble, even if she was the Number 1, a skilled warrior would give her a fight that she might not win. As far as she knew there were a few single digits that were able to take her on and cause her grief. She would have to hide as well as she could.

Hysteria guided the horse forwards from the river, walking now as the animal was slightly tired from crossing the river, and she would need it to be as fresh as possible should she have need for it to run as fast as it could. She was literally trying to escape death at the moment, trying to keep herself as far ahead of the warrior as she could. Hysteria cursed as she could hear the warrior keeping up without too much difficulty. She didn't want to wear the horse or herself out. Hysteria was fast running out of options, if she didn't do something drastic then all was forfeited, especially her life. She knew that she didn't have much choice; she would have to find a place that was isolated so that she could hide. However with a warrior on her trail, it would be difficult for her to hide at all. Hysteria was about to curse her own rotten luck when a loud thud caught her attention. A human was standing in her way, a dagger drawn. She would have laughed then and there, if she didn't have other more pressing issues. She simply looked at the human and without so much as flinching turned the horse in to another direction. She pushed it to a canter, when she heard the warrior pick up her pace, and several other horses head towards her. She decided to take a slight risk, and nudged the horse to gallop. She leant forward instinctively and gave the horse its head. She only guided it when necessary, covering a surprising amount of ground in a short space of time that was unheard of, on horseback that was. The other horses tried to cut her off but Hysteria was having none of that, lightly touching the reigns and guiding the horse towards Rockwell Hill. She was playing a dangerous game but it was the only way she would be able to do anything and it might help her lose the warrior at the same time. The tactic seemed to work, as Hysteria lost them all. She slowed the horse down and waited to see what would happen, to make sure that they hadn't fallen back. She focused her senses on what was going on around her. She'd finally done it; she heaved a sigh of relief and guided the horse to Toulouse, making sure that she was as careful as possible.

After the near miss Hysteria was more determined to remain hidden and safe. She travelled towards Rabona, hoping that she could truly shake the Organization off her trail. It had taken her almost two months to get there. By the time she arrived at Rabona, her stomach was now sticking out more. The nudging was stronger and she could sense the small yoki much easier now, although she wasn't sure if that was because whatever it was that was growing inside of her was getting stronger or if it was raising its yoki. She decided that the first option was more likely than the latter, although she wasn't sure if she was really right. Hysteria came to an interesting realisation as she neared the gates of Rabona; she had no idea how they were going to react to her. She knew that half yoma weren't allowed in to the city, but she didn't have much of a choice, if she wanted to live and find out what it was that was nudging her from the inside her then she had to at least try Rabona. She was aware that she could very well be killed by the Rabonians, but if she presented her case properly she might have a chance and she would be able to kill two birds with the same stone, saving herself and helping humans that she wouldn't be able to because of the Organization. She slowed the horse's pace and hoped that luck would be on her side.

As she entered the gates of Rabona, Hysteria kept her hood up and she walked alongside the horse. She didn't know where to go. She walked along the streets and marvelled at their beauty. She didn't realise that Rabona was so amazing. She made her way through the city and was soon stopped by two men. She followed them meekly as she didn't want to make a scene. The men guided her towards seemingly private quarters. The horse was taken to the stables and Hysteria was questioned about why she'd come to Rabona. Her hands trembled as she pulled off her cloak; there would be no going back. The men were shocked and Hysteria knew that in their eyes a "Claymore" was a forbidden person. She carefully tried to explain what she knew was almost impossible to explain. The men even said so, and that it didn't make sense. Hysteria waited quietly as the men left the room. They hadn't said anything that could allow her to draw conclusions, she heard them call out to their comrades and their comrades stood guard over the room, but neither entered. If she'd wanted to escape, Hysteria knew that she could do it, those two men outside the door knew it too. She could hear them talking, in hushed confused voices,

"Why would a Claymore come to Rabona?" one asked,

"I don't know," the other man replied, "at any rate she seems to be a quiet one that's for sure."

Hysteria had waited for a full hour before they came back with a physician. After patiently listening to her warning about her body not being a pretty sight, Hysteria carefully removed the top part of her clothing and the men all cringed but the physician placed his ear on her stomach. The room was tense for several seconds and then he stood up,

"It is as she has told you," he said, "a child grows within her,"

Hysteria carefully put her top back on and picked up her cloak, calmly replacing it around her shoulders. She pulled the hood back up, so that her face was again hidden from view. The men had to take her to the priests as it would be up to them as to what happened next.

The priests of Rabona wore lose long robes that touched the ground. The head priest was told of a strange phenomenon that had never been heard of before. He listened in shock as the guards told him of a Claymore that was going to have a child within the next three months. The priest was sure that they had definitely had too much wine until he saw the Claymore in question. Her stomach was certainly showing signs that she was indeed carrying, and he heard that the physician had checked her. It was clear that she was more than willing to be of assistance in any way that she was required and the head priest called a meeting.

The entire congregation was in an uproar. They had never heard of a Claymore being able to carry a child and they certainly argued as much. It took the bishop to calm them down and suggest a temporary solution to the problem. He suggested that they keep the Claymore and if she gave birth to a child, then they could discuss more about it at that time. The head priest suggested that they keep the Claymore because she would be able to detect yoma, something that the Rabonians couldn't do themselves. They debated for hours but at last they came up with a deal. If Hysteria was truly pregnant she would have whatever she had need of in exchange of her helping them find the yoma.

They were quite surprised when she agreed to their deal. For Hysteria it was the fact that she was cheating death that made it that much sweeter. It meant that she would truly be able to live and she would be safe because as far as the Organization was concerned Rabona was holy ground and that meant that she would be able to bring up her child in safety without fear that the Organization would take it from her. She didn't ask for very much and was more than happy with the simple quarters that they gave her. As far as Hysteria was concerned the quarters were like a palace compared to her quarters back in Sutafu, where she could reach both sides of the room just by holding both her arms out either side of herself. The bed was nice and comfortable as well, not the simple straw mattress that she was often forced to sleep on when she was there.

Hysteria kept her end of the bargain and had detected no fewer than six yoma in two months. Her body was swollen and she walked slowly. The yoki she could sense was stronger and she was able to deduce that it might be a little girl that was slowly growing inside of her. The nudges were strong now and Hysteria was excited now more than before, she wondered what the child would look like, but she wasn't able to sense much about it all.

She was sitting down at a table when she felt something strange, it wasn't a normal yoma, and she knew that if she let them go after it they wouldn't be able to handle it. She picked up her blade. It would be a risk to take on, but she didn't have much of a choice. She carefully headed towards it her yoki hidden. The awakened being didn't pick her up and as she got closer to it, it seemed oblivious to her.

Hysteria felt excited and as she moved forward she leapt bringing the blade down in a smooth arc, slashing the monster in half its disgusting purple blood spilling all over the place. Hysteria felt the nudge, more like a kick. It was a relief to know that all was well, or so she thought.

When Hysteria had settled back down in her quarters she fell in to the bed gratefully, sleep overcoming her.

The Rabonians were shocked when they found the dead yoma. It wasn't like any yoma that they had ever seen before. The guards brought the corpse to the priests to look at. They were as shocked as everyone else. They went straight to the Claymore's quarters. She lay on the bed, her breathing deep and even, her arms and legs twitching every now and again, her eyelids flickering. Her long hair half covered her face, and she was fully stretched out, her stomach a noticeable bulge pushing out towards the side of the bed as she was on her side. They carefully pulled out the sheets and examined it. The Claymore's body was long since known to be horrific, and the physician shuddered every time he was called to examine her progress. She was certainly growing, and she wasn't putting on weight elsewhere on her body. It was clear to him that she didn't have much to go. He carefully measured the growth and was astounded to see that according to his calculations the Claymore didn't have much longer to go. He began to check for signs that she was beginning to get ready to have the baby, but none were present. He would have to keep a close eye on her; the child would certainly be coming soon.

No one in Rabona would dispute the fact that having a "Claymore" was actually beneficial to the town. It allowed them to avoid the yoma almost completely and when the yoma did come in to the town, it was a simple matter of having the men kill the yoma before they became a problem. The last three months had seen the Claymore more than prove her worth. The physician had been keeping a tight eye on her but even so, no one was quite prepared for when she was ready to have the baby.

Hysteria had been resting on the bed when the pangs started. She had been trying to get to sleep, but it was quite hot and she was resting on her side. She got up and started to pace, the pain irritating her more than anything she'd ever felt before. Hysteria didn't know what to make of it, the pain shot through her body again and she stifled a curse. The pain was almost enough to bring her to her knees it was so powerful. She felt as if she'd just wet herself and she could see water on the floor, mixed with blood. She suppressed a scream and more pain lashed at her, bringing her down faster than the convulsions of when she was becoming half yoma. Hysteria struggled to come to terms with what exactly was going on. She knew that pain was racing through her body, but she didn't know why it was doing that.

The physician was in the midst of treating a patient when a guard came over to him to inform him that it seemed that the Claymore was in labour. The guard wasn't sure how long she'd been in labour for but she was lying down and seemed not to want to move from the wet spot on the floor where she'd been standing earlier. The physician finished the patient's treatment and followed the guard to the Claymore's quarters.

Hysteria bit back a cry as the pain lashed at her. She was sweating and panting. Her body was shaking and she didn't want to ruin anymore of the floor since she was leaking out some fluid like substance with each wave of pain that cut through her. She soon found herself screaming it was so bad. Hysteria tried not to scream to loudly, nor would she allow her face to screw up with the pain as she felt that it was uncalled for. The physician arrived with a guard, but Hysteria didn't care. She was in too much pain to care now. She felt as if her body was being cleaved in two, and still the pain grew stronger. She wanted to scream, but she didn't at the same time. She tried to hold back the cries but even so she still cried out, louder as the pain increased. If she could compare it to anything, it was far greater than the pain she had suffered becoming half yoma.

Hysteria found herself screaming and crying as the pain continued to lash her. The child's yoki was showing signs of distress, and Hysteria screamed in pain. No amount of words were going to calm her down, or change the fact that she was forced to grit her teeth in pain. Hysteria's yoki jumped to 30% unwittingly, as she struggled to deal with the pain. The humans were racing around, but in her mind they were just in the background, unnoticeable, non-existent even. The only thing that she was aware of was the pain that was lacing through her, and the fact that the child was moving, ever closer to leaving her body.

The physician checked the progress of the Claymore's labour and said, "She's progressing well. Make sure that the water is ready, she looks set to progress further."

The others hastened to obey his commands as the Claymore screamed in agony, her face twisting slightly as her muscles bulked up and went back to normal again. Her eyes were gold still and it seemed that she was struggling to suppress something. They slowly returned to their silver state, and the Claymore panted heavily. She remained where she was and it seemed that she was struggling to breath properly. He checked her progress again as the guards brought in the warm water that he'd asked for, as well as the cold water. He grabbed a cloth and dipped it in the cold water and placed it on the Claymore's forehead, and also another cloth over her swollen stomach. She was hot, her face red from exertion, and judging by how far along she seemed she would have hours to go yet.

Hysteria cried out as the pain grew in its strength and in the length of time that it lasted. Each pang lasted longer than the last and she was grateful that the human had kindly put the cool cloths on her. She was already quite strained from having to bare the pain that was slicing through her body. As Hysteria struggled to bare the pain, she could feel the child's yoki rising a little and falling, as it was trying to cause her less pain, though it seemed that it didn't know what to do. Hysteria cried and tears were running down her face as the pain intensified yet again. She cried and cried as the child slowly moved inside of her, pressing as it came.

Hysteria panted and heard the human watching over her say something about it being time to push. She looked at him with confusion and he calmly explained that she needed to push the child out of her body. Hysteria hardly knew what he was saying and as a pang came he pushed her legs up towards her, making her stomach muscles tighten. The child moved further than what it had before with just the pangs alone. Hysteria paused as she realised what the human was trying to say, and then she understood. She would have to use her strength to push the child out. Despite the pain Hysteria took a deep breath and pushed. She cried out in pain as the child moved further along.

She cried loudly as the child left her body. Hysteria fell back on to the floor exhausted by the effort of giving birth to the child. She was lucky that the scar didn't get torn open by the baby, which was now crying out. The human handed her to Hysteria and she regarded the tiny little baby in her arms. Her hair was blond; almost white blond and her eyes were the purest silver that Hysteria had ever seen. Those eyes regarded Hysteria with a look of power that was hidden away, as suppressed as Hysteria's yoki. The baby's tiny hands clenched and unclenched as her tiny arms swung around. Hysteria gently placed a finger in one of the baby's hands and the baby gripped that finger, holding on to it like the world was going to end. Hysteria marvelled at the small girl and found herself crying tears of joy, for a reason that she couldn't explain. Hysteria never cried and yet here she was holding this tiny little baby crying. She wasn't sure whether to press the child close to her or to hold her loosely the baby seemed so fragile. Hysteria didn't notice that the humans were cleaning things up around her, nor did she notice the afterbirth come out. She was too enthralled by the tiny little girl that was in her arms, clenching one of her fingers. In Hysteria's mind the girl was the most exquisite little girl that had ever been born, and Hysteria was infatuated with her. Hysteria paused as she realised that the girl needed a name.

"I know, I'll call you Miria," she said, as the tiny girl yawned, "that will be your name."

Miria for her part closed those pretty silver eyes and but still held on to Hysteria's finger.

What Hysteria did notice was that the head priest had come in with the bishop. The two men had come to see for themselves what the offspring of a so called "Claymore" would look like. Hysteria wondered what would happen now and as the bishop sat on the floor alongside her with the head priest, Hysteria couldn't help but wonder what was to come.

The two men talked with the Claymore for some time and they called a major meeting. The agenda was simple. Despite the reservations that they had about the Claymores, the one that had come to them had been a valuable asset, and now that she'd given birth, the city would have two Claymores to contend with, although the youngling was only a newborn, hardly able to do anything without her mother. It was enough to send the congregation into a standstill, they all just had to look at the tiny Claymore, and once they saw that she was indeed a little Claymore, they were forced to think about their past words. The discussion went on for a long time, so long in fact that the tiny Claymore had woken, and since she was hungry had cried until her mother patiently put the little one on to her breast and the child suckled. Several humans had looked on with interest, only to be shocked by the fact that the baby's suckling was like a normal human's suckling, something they had seen many times with mothers and their babies. The discussion soon turned to the prior agreement and the Claymore said she would stand by it if allowed. The humans were surprised by the fact that once again they were the ones that got more out of the deal than the Claymore herself. They however realigned the agreement, saying that as long as the Claymore detected the yoma they would be fine with having her in the city, as long as she didn't head out in broad daylight without hiding what she was, and the same applied to the child as well. The Claymore readily agreed to their terms and the new deal was struck.

Seven years had passed since Miria's birth, and in those seven years there were a lot of changes with the Organization. The next slotted Number 1 had successfully killed Hysteria's successor, without so much as breaking a sweat, only using enough yoki to change her eyes. Hysteria had heard the rumours of a warrior that never exhausted her yoki and always seemed to wear a faint smile on her face. The Elegant wasn't particularly worried, since the warrior who became number 1 after her was a complete push over, Hysteria would have killed her easily too. So the only thing that remained was to see this warrior in battle, but that would mean leaving Rabona, and Miria was still far from ready to do that. Hysteria half wondered if it was her sentimentality that was keeping her in Rabona, since the people had been nothing but grateful that she was there, sensing out the yoma and corning the monsters at night for the night watchmen. Everyone knew that they weren't allowed to speak of their resident "Claymores", but somehow word leaked out that Rabona had two "Claymores" were in the city and the humans were often bringing little gifts of their thanks, pretty blankets, nice food and clothing, even going as far as to make Hysteria a new set of amour as her old set was worn out. She was astounded by the degree of generosity that the humans had.

Miria didn't seem to mind all that much. She was a heart charmer and if ever there was someone who could improve the way humans saw the half yoma it would have to be Miria. The girl was kind and could spend hours listening to the humans' stories about yoma; she would often be seen playing around the cathedral (the only place where the two didn't have to hide away) with the local children. Hysteria would smile and be amused by the girl's antics. More often than not Miria would ask her mother about the yoma, although Hysteria was reluctant to tell her daughter about the creatures.

However Miria was at an age now that she would need some training, if not this year then maybe in the next three, as she was already showing signs of being a warrior underneath that innocent face. Miria had a couple of close calls with injury, and her little face was marred by an X shaped scar, though it wasn't as bad as what Hysteria had though it might be at the time. In short Miria was much like any child, boundless energy and a nose for trouble, although if Hysteria had a choice she wouldn't have it any other way.

Hysteria continued to listen to the rumours about the new Number 1 and by the time Miria was ten, Hysteria knew that time would be turning against them. It was a tearful good bye all around, and Miria's yoki shot up a little in her distress, though Hysteria was able to comfort her this time. The humans told Hysteria that she was welcome back any time and Hysteria rubbed the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. With that Hysteria and Miria left Rabona hand in hand, their cloaks flapping in the wind as they headed towards Hysteria's old region. She had a feeling that she'd been forgotten, and somehow that didn't worry The Elegant Hysteria in the slightest. Miria's small hand held her's and they were walking at an easy pace. In Hysteria's mind the time had come for Miria's training to begin.


	2. Chapter II: The Elegant Illusion

The Elegant Mother

Chapter II: The Elegant Illusion

They walked steadily to their next destination with haste, Miria walking smoothly and keeping up with her mother. Hysteria decided that the time had come for Miria to learn what yoma were. As she entered the town of Theo, Hysteria could sense no fewer than seven of them. She spoke to Miria,

"What do you feel Miria?" she asked her daughter,

"Strange things Mama," Miria replied, "they feel like they're lights,"

"Good, then you are sensing yoma." Hysteria told her, "They have a distinct yoki, one that differs from your own; they are usually easily spotted, although they can hide themselves too."

Miria looked at her mother in awe; she was quite surprised that it was so easy to sense yoma,

"They look like humans though," she said, confused,

"That's because they take on human form to hide," Hysteria explained to her.

Miria didn't need much more explanation then that. She knew at once what her mother was saying between the information given. The reason people needed half yoma was so that the yoma could be detected, and once the yoma were found, Miria looked at her mother, but it was clear that her mother was waiting for something, since she was hiding in the shadows.

"Mama,-" Miria began,

"Hush young one, just watch and see," Hysteria told her daughter.

Miria felt another light head towards them, this one was different from the other seven, and it was bright, strong, and confident. Miria gaped in awe as a woman with wavy blond hair walked in to the town. The yoma and the humans shifted uneasily,

"It's a Claymore," one of the yoma said,

Miria could see the large broad sword on her back. It looked just like her mother's sword. Without any fuss the half yoma woman killed the first yoma, slashing it from the middle of its body out to its right shoulder. The other yoma yelled and the humans were running about the city square.

"That's one," the half yoma said

"Hey what do you think you're doing!" another yoma yelled

She put her blade in to its head and smirked, "That's two."

She lifted the blade and the yoma's head was cut clean in half.

"It's killing people!" a third yoma yelled, the humans around it panicking and running away.

The "Claymore" was alongside the yoma, "That's three," she said her blade cutting the yoma's head off

"She's gone mad!" yelled the fourth yoma.

"That's four," she said boredly, the fourth yoma cut clean in half.

The other two yoma responded by making their power known and she looked at them for a few seconds,

"What kept you?" she asked, "You should have summoned your power the moment you saw me and prepared for combat, oh well,"

She smirked and as one of the yoma rushed at her she jumped up and cut it in half, landing on her toes and simply shoving the blade in to the neck of the sixth yoma,

"It's pointless to resist," she smirked.

It was after the sixth yoma was killed that people actually started to scream,

"The bodies…they're all yoma!"

"You're one lucky village," the half yoma smiled, "it seems that the yoma did their feeing in other villages and lived quietly here."

Miria gaped at the woman, she was nothing on her Mama, but as Miria looked at her Mama's face, she could see exasperation and other emotions though Miria couldn't read her mother's suppressed yoki.

"Now then, I felt nine yokis in this village, however there are only seven yoma, let's see how many I've killed," Teresa stated, "one, two, three, four, five, six…oh, how careless of me, it seems that I missed one,"

She looked at the crowed and the humans shrunk back, she thoroughly enjoyed scaring the humans at times. She looked in a certain direction, there were two yokis in that direction, but neither were yoma.

"Well, well, what if I don't find it," she looked to her right and pinpointed the yoma easily, "What indeed,"

She rushed forwards and dodged the child by a hair's breadth, and cut the yoma so fast it didn't even know what hit it,

"Did you think you could use the child as a shield," Teresa taunted, "fool,"

The humans screamed as the yoma fell in two halves, blood spraying everywhere and the child looked up at Teresa, her large green eyes focused on her. Teresa looked to the left and noticed that one of the other yokis had spiked in irritation, but it suppressed easily. Something told Teresa that the warrior was hiding herself for a reason, and as she looked at the smaller of the two, Teresa began to wonder why the smaller one was familiar.

Hysteria decided that it was best they leave the town quickly. Miria was full of questions and Hysteria answered them as carefully as she could. It hadn't occurred to her that Teresa would be the replacement Number 1, and having seen what she needed to see Hysteria was slightly shaken. Damn it that warrior was good! Hysteria had watched as Teresa made short work of the seven yoma and had picked up Hysteria's slightly suppressed yoki. She worked on really pushing it down when she heard a commotion.

"Who cares if he dies," a male voice taunted,

Hysteria rushed over with Miria, and stopped as she saw a fair group of bandits surrounding Teresa and the small girl who'd been with the yoma,

"I think you should care," Hysteria said as she came out of the shadows, she decided that it was time to show Teresa a little illusion.

The bandits turned and Hysteria flicked away her cloak, revealing in the mind of the Organization, the warrior with the most beautiful technique of all warriors. Hysteria's braided bangs flapped a little as she smoothly executed her technique, needing much less yoki to use it than before, but the effect was still the same, it looked as if she'd slipped through the bandit where he stood.

The half yoma gasped in shock, "It can't be…The Elegant Hysteria!"

Miria rushed over to her Mama, her cloak falling down to reveal a silver eyed girl no more than ten years old. Her pale blond shaggy razor cut bangs fell on both sides of her face, the rest of her hair pulled up in to a ponytail,

"Mama," said Miria, she was truly awed by what her mother had just done, and she gazed up at her mother with adoration,

The half yoma looked at Miria and gasped, she was surprised, but she didn't show it much. The bandit smirked, "So there are three Claymores in my forest. Two of which happen to be mighty fine women."

"If I were you, I suggest you get your filthy face out of my sight, you're making me gag," Hysteria said, "I can assure you I've seen yoma look better than you do, you filthy human,"

The bandits all gaped in shock, and the half yoma was staring at Miria's mother with an unreadable expression.

"And what's a Claymore like you going to do about it?" the head bandit asked, "I know about the iron clad rule that governs your kind, you can't kill humans without the others taking your head."

"My, my, how ill-informed you are," Hysteria replied, "it seems to have escaped your notice that I no longer belong to the Organization, therefore do not have to follow the rules. If I wanted to I could kill you all where you stand and be done with it, but frankly you're not worth my time,"

The bandits flinched,

"You would honestly kill them Hysteria?" the half yoma asked,

"Of course, Teresa, why wouldn't I? I have every right to, they're in my way, and so are you and your little pet, although I don't really care about that, I only want to continue on my way…hmm, perhaps there is something else they desire…" Hysteria smirked, "is this what you want?"

She calmly ripped her shirt off, much to Miria's surprise. The bandits were shocked and disgusted at the same time,

"This is the body of one whom you call a Claymore, if you like a body like this, I'm sure we can come to an agreement,"

"Ugh…is she serious?" a bandit asked,

"Damn," said another,

"Let's go," said the leader, annoyed, "Somebody help Rig,"

Hysteria replaced her shirt and her cloak as the human who'd had his hand cut off glared at the half yoma called Teresa,

"Hey witch, I won't forget this!" the man snapped.

Hysteria took Miria's hand without another word and moved swiftly away.

Teresa glowered in to the forest, damn it Hysteria had slipped away with a child that called her "Mama". Such a thing wasn't possible…or was it? The girl's yoki had been almost the same as Hysteria's and for that Teresa had no explanation, and yet at the same time it felt as if Teresa were facing a monster despite the girl's innocent face. Teresa walked on, intending to follow Hysteria and the child. She wasn't oblivious to the girl that was following her. She hoped that the child would give up and follow someone else.

Miria moved as fast as she could, her mother was setting a demanding pace. Miria nearly fell she was so tired. Hysteria caught her and carried Miria the rest of the way. Miria's dreams filled with her mother's illusion.

Hysteria headed to Rokut, it took her a couple of days despite the fact that she was travelling as fast as Miria could go, perhaps a little too hard on her daughter as Miria would collapse each night and sleep. Hysteria had wondered what sort of reception she would receive at Rokut, she was almost certain that it wouldn't be kind, especially since she didn't have much money and she wasn't there to kill the yoma. Hysteria had already chosen to avoid Teresa as best as she could, given the warrior's skill she didn't expect it to be long before Teresa caught up with her. Hysteria's only hope was that she could begin Miria's training so that the girl would have basic sword skills. She would have to purchase a sword for Miria, there was no choice. Hysteria inspected the blacksmiths swords with a practiced eye, but none of them would last more than a few seconds against a claymore. Hysteria's eyes narrowed,

"Is this truly the best you have?" she asked, "I can't see these being of any real use."

The blacksmith blundered and shook in place as Hysteria calmly left the shop, she had decided that she would find the strongest sword that the humans could make…or she could just steal from Sutafu, but that was risky and it might not end well. Hysteria carefully considered the options that were before her and she sighed. If she wanted Miria to be able to protect herself the girl had to learn on a claymore, there was no other option. Hysteria carefully negotiated the pass towards Sutafu, keeping to the shadows, and hiding as well as she could. Miria followed her mother's carful movements like a hawk. Hysteria managed to get about half way to Sutafu when she heard the most interesting of rumours. It seemed that Teresa of all people had disobeyed her commands. Hysteria snuck in to Sutafu and managed to catch a glimpse of what they were sending after her. It was a young warrior who was a complete novice if there was one. Hysteria found what she was looking for, a claymore. The blade lacked a symbol although Hysteria could most likely get one engraved if she wanted to. Hysteria took the blade; she figured that it didn't matter if a sword went missing if it didn't belong to a warrior in the first place.

Hysteria took Miria and swiftly travelled towards where she thought Teresa might be. Hysteria carried her daughter and the second claymore on her back. She made it to a town, though she couldn't tell if Teresa was there or not. Hysteria felt a little odd doing what she was about to do, but then again, she had deserted the Organization, so it didn't matter anymore.

It turned out that Hysteria had beat Teresa by a good day and a half. Teresa was travelling with a small human child. Now Hysteria knew why Teresa was so slow, the human was limited in how fast she could travel, but with a human Teresa could hide, at least for a little while until warriors caught up with her. Hysteria knew that if Teresa was going to hide with that human, someone was going to have to intervene, and if it was up to Hysteria then so be it. She would help Teresa and the human child. It was what she would do as a mother, and a quick look at Miria revealed that the girl hadn't sense Teresa yet.

"Come Miria, it seems that our help is needed," Hysteria told her daughter.

Miria looked up at her mother tiredly, Hysteria knew that Miria had travelled hard so she picked her daughter up, and carried her in her arms.

"You're sure that you don't mind if you have to sleep on hard ground Clare?" Teresa asked the small girl.

Clare nodded at Teresa and the warrior's eyes tightened with pain. Teresa felt such a strong instinct telling her to protect the child from the Organization that she turned her back on them and now was running away with Clare. She was shocked that it even come to this, but now Teresa wondered if she was going to be able to protect Clare, even if she was the strongest of the warriors there was no telling what the Organization would have planned if they got their hands on Clare. The thought made Teresa sick to the stomach and she shuddered inwardly. She ripped of her cloak in spite of her negative vibes and prepared to face the yoma like always.

"Humph, you yoma are such a nuisance, everywhere I go there is always one of you're kind floating around," it was Teresa that revealed herself and Hysteria paused, it just wouldn't do to be shown up,

"Oh, please, allow me," Hysteria called, "you've been travelling."

Teresa gaped as Hysteria and Hysteria smiled, raised her yoki and cut the yoma's head clean off. Of course it looked like she'd just slid through the yoma. Hysteria held Miria tighter to her and sheathed her blade once it was clean from the blood that had gotten on it. She turned towards Teresa and Teresa looked at her,

"I believe we need to talk, away from hu…" no sooner had Hysteria started to talk than did the entire town come out cheering. Miria yawned as they woke her. Hysteria blinked in shock, she'd never had this happen before. The Elegant hastened to shake her head. Never in her time, except for in Rabona had she ever been remotely thanked for killing a yoma. And yet here these humans were cheering. It made no sense to her. Teresa eyed Hysteria warily, as if waiting to see what Hysteria was going to do.

A man came up to them and he was smiling,

"Thank you," he said, "You've saved this town from the yoma, here is your fee,"

"Oh, dear," said Hysteria, "you don't need to pay me, your happiness made it all worth my while," she smiled, "if you would be as kind as to prepare a room for four, I'd be much obliged,"

"Of course," said the human,

Teresa raised her eyes,

"A room for four?" She asked,

"That human that you're travelling with will need a place to sleep, and you and I will need to talk," Hysteria replied

Teresa shook her head and followed Hysteria.

After much discussion in which Hysteria told Teresa of her deal with the Rabonians, it was decided that for Clare's safety she would be made a quarter yoma. The risks were just too great even in Rabona, which was why Hysteria had left for a while. Hysteria told Teresa of the strange child she'd seen in Sutafu, once Miria and Clare had gone to sleep. Teresa listened intently to what Hysteria was saying and realised that the former Number 1 was speaking, not because she wanted to be nice to Teresa, although she certainly didn't seem to mind it, but because she knew how Teresa felt about Clare, she knew that better than anyone else. Teresa still couldn't believe that Miria was even born from Hysteria, but at the yoki level they were just too close yet different at the same time to ignore. Teresa asked Hysteria if there was a reason that Miria's yoki was so strange. Hysteria looked around and lowed her voice,

"I would have thought you'd have heard of the Silver Eyed Lion King," Teresa looked dumb, for a fraction of a second and something registered in her mind,

"You mean to say that her father is an awakened being?!" Teresa cried, and they both shot a glance at the sleeping girls, neither having been disturbed by Teresa's outburst.

"That is exactly what I mean," Hysteria whispered, "and she hasn't shown any rising of her yoki, so I guess that she is no different from another warrior, perhaps she is like a warrior that has gone over the limit and maintained control."

"I'm sensing three warriors," Teresa said suddenly,

"That means that there is four of them," Hysteria said, "The child that I saw had her yoki suppressed beyond suppressed."

"So what do we do?" Teresa asked,

"We do what we can, we'll have to kill the inexperienced warrior, she's too dangerous to leave alive." Hysteria said calmly. "It will be our only hope of keeping Clare and Miria safe."

Teresa was forced to agree with Hysteria, and the Faint Smile didn't like it a bit. She was loth to kill a comrade but if Hysteria was right then the child was dangerous. Teresa mentally prepared herself for what was to come. After all it would be four of her comrades and if Hysteria was to be believed. Teresa looked at the sleeping Clare, and she felt the feelings tug at her heart. She wanted Clare to be safe and happy. If this was the price that she had to pay then so be it Teresa decided, she would do what was best for Clare.

The warriors walked in to the town, Irene lead the team. She paused as she realised that Teresa wasn't alone, she could smell another, more powerful warrior's scent mixed with Teresa's. This warrior was something that Irene had never seen before although she had heard of one such warrior getting away from the Organization. The odds had shifted. Irene knew that if Teresa wasn't on her own then perhaps this mission was going to be harder than the Organization had assumed. Indeed if it was an experienced warrior then she might kill Priscilla and ignore the rest of them. Irene took a breath,

"Sophia, Noel, Priscilla!" she called sharply, the three paused and looked to Irene, "It seems that Teresa isn't alone,"

"WHAT?" yelled Noel, "Oh come on, who'd want to be with Teresa, we all know that if Irene had a choice she'd be the one running off with her."

Sophia faced palmed, and Irene's eye narrowed dangerously,

"If you would listen to what I tell you Noel, you'd stop fooling around and realise how much difficulty our mission has taken," Irene struggled to keep her voice level, "as I have said, Teresa isn't alone…the warrior that is with her is powerful, there is very little hope that we can take on Teresa and this other warrior."

"Well, we can all go home now," said Noel, until Irene grabbed her arm, "OW IRENE WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"You can't just leave Noel," Irene reminded her, "We must complete the task that has been set,"

"Oh, shit," said Noel,

And her assessment was about right. Irene gaped in shock as none other than Teresa of the Faint Smile stood, and she wasn't alone, standing next to her with her braided bangs flapping in the breeze was The Elegant Hysteria, a former Number 1. Irene was right about the powerful warrior bit, but nothing could have prepared her for what was behind Hysteria, a small girl with an X shaped scar on her face and pale blond shaggy bangs down the side of her face. That wasn't the real reason that Irene's jaw dropped to the ground. The real reason was that the girl's eyes were pure faultless silver. No warrior had eyes that silver, not even the warriors with the palest blond hair. And yet this girl had pure silver eyes. It was frightening to say the least. Priscilla shot forward and attacked Teresa, the latter blocking the girl and protecting herself from the more serious blows. Hysteria took the three of them on. Irene cursed as she realised that this was the plan, Hysteria was to hold them back whilst Teresa saw to it that Priscilla was killed. It was a simple yet effective plan, no sooner did Irene try to break then did Hysteria easily catch up to her and cut her down so that she couldn't do anything except watch as Priscilla was struggling to match blades with Teresa. Irene cursed at the perfect timing of Hysteria, sliding through them and cutting them down. Irene now knew why Hysteria was given the title of the most beautiful technique; she was truly elegant in every way. Sophia and Noel fell easily; they weren't even a match for the former Number 1. Hysteria then turned on Priscilla, who was already being overwhelmed by Teresa. All it took was a single strike from Hysteria to bring Priscilla down, and another blow to the girl's head by Teresa to kill her. Irene truly knew fear, and as Hysteria, the small silver eyed girl, Teresa and the small human child walked over to them, Irene thought she was as good as dead. So when they passed without a fuss, walking away as if they had other more important things than to worry about the three warriors lying on the ground, Irene was too shocked to react. She lay there with a look of shock on her face.

Miria walked close to her mother and by the time they were half way out of the town, three lights or yokis followed them,

"Teresa! Wait!"

The four turned to see the longhaired warrior, she wasn't alone, there were two others with her, their hair was short.

"Please hear me out," the front warrior panted, having run to catch up to them "as far as I am concerned, there is no need for the three of us to return to the Organization,"

Teresa looked at the three, "And Irene?"

"I don't think that it would hurt to have five experienced warriors, the Organization would be less likely to attack us, that is if you'll have us with you,"

"The more the merrier I suppose," said Hysteria,

Irene lowered her head, "Thank you," she said.

She was grateful that she had a chance at survival, even if it meant turning against the Organization. It hadn't taken them long to see it, and experienced warriors always knew that if they lived too long the Organization would eventually some after them in some way.

And so the warriors travelled together. The young human was cut open and made a quarter yoma out of Teresa's flesh. Irene Sophia and Noel got to know both Miria and Clare. All while the girls got to know their protectors. Hysteria began Miria's training. Hysteria pushed her daughter and Miria learned surprisingly quickly. Clare was still changing, so she spent most of her time clutching Teresa and when convulsions ran through her, Clare would scream and Teresa's eyes would tear up and she would hold the child close to her. Of course in the end it was all worth the effort, despite Irene's reservations. Clare soon turned out to be quite sensitive to yoki, as sensitive as a low ranked single digit, though the child lacked Teresa's power. They stole another mark-less claymore and started Clare's training. Irene watched as Miria quickly caught up to her mother's skill level, while Clare was a little slow on the blade, she made up for it by sheer will power and determination. Irene wondered what would happen if the Organization had have gotten their hands on either of the two girls. It was a thought that made her feel oddly sick, and one that she didn't want to dwell on.

Hysteria guided the others to Rabona; it would be the only place that was safe for now, although she knew that staying in Rabona had its risks. Hysteria changed their course, just in case they were being followed. She settled near the river that ran near Rabona; close enough to make people think that she was heading for the town, but far enough away that they couldn't be too sure that it was her destination.

Once the camp was set up, the girl's collective training began for the night. Clare was panting and Miria swung the claymore with pure determination. Once they had finished their drills, Hysteria herself ran through them. She sparred with Teresa and it was the collective cue for all of the warriors to practice. Noel sat with Miria and Clare. Hysteria had insisted that at least one warrior was to sit with the girls, especially if the others were sparring. Clare and Miria were watching intently as the matches wore on through the night. Both of the girls would benefit from watching the more experienced warriors. Eventually the matches were finished and the sun rose again. Hysteria made a spur of the moment decision to head away from Rabona, so they walked up the north side of the city, avoiding it for the time being.

They had been travelling for about a week when Teresa sensed that they were being followed. The warrior wasn't very strong, but she was shadowing their movements. Hysteria continued forwards and they kept an eye out for the warrior. She seemed to be nervous and despite that fear she was following them. Hysteria called a halt. They would wait and see just who this warrior was.

The young girl walked forward. She was scared, she knew that these warriors were all powerful; however Hilda had heard that there was a group of warriors that had escaped the Organization, making it possible to escape them. She was shaking, they travelled hard, but it wasn't the hardest Hilda had ever travelled but it was still a gruelling pace. Hilda was doubled over panting. It seemed that they had stopped for a breather, so Hilda would catch her breath with them. Once she caught her breath she quietly continued forward, sure that they would have pushed further ahead. She caught a shock when she almost walked in to blade. Hilda thought she was lucky to stop when she did, and a look revealed that the warriors hadn't moved on at all. Hilda was frozen in fright.

"So you're the one who was following us?" said a tall warrior with braided bangs, she was amused almost.

Hilda struggled not to flinch, she was like a rat caught in a snake's coils, a rat that knew it was going to be bitten if it moved. Hilda was shaking visibly, she didn't have the power to take even one of them on and live to tell the tale. And yet she despised the Organization for her friend that was killed. All because she'd spoken out against them for a joke. Hilda knew that the Organization was terrible and that they did terrible things to young girls like her but she was powerless to do anything…or so she'd thought. When she heard that a group of warriors had left the Organization, she realised that she could possibly do something, even if it was just to escape, although a warrior of her rank wasn't worth the Organization's time, especially at 47. She was sure that if she was to leave they wouldn't care, but she'd never heard of a 47 doing it on her own, so she'd come across the group of warriors and decided that if they were the escaped group, she would ask if she could join them, fear seemed to be a small price to pay for escaping the Organization. All Hilda had to do was tell the truth, the real reason that she was following them, and let them make up their minds.

She wasn't prepared for Miria to hug her around the middle, but returned the hug gently. Miria could sense that this girl was nice, without any meanness about her. Hysteria huffed irritated but Miria ignored her mother, a sure fire way to get into trouble,

"I like you," said Miria, the girl blinked, her eyes wide,

"Uh…thanks…you're very kind," the girl blushed.

Hysteria glared at her daughter, but it went unnoticed of course,

"My name's Miria, what's your's?" Miria asked,

"I'm Hilda, the Number 47," the girl, Hilda replied, shaking slightly,

"Oh is that all," Noel smirked,

"Shut up Noel," hissed Sophia,

"You shut up!"

"No you!"

And soon the age old fight broke out, until Hysteria snapped, "Both of you get a grip, that's not how former single digits ort to behave in front of their lower ranked comrades!"

The two promptly pulled apart and looked to Irene and Teresa, both however weren't going to support them against Hysteria.

"Agreed," said Irene,

"If anything you two are worse than Miria and Clare," Teresa added,

"Can we keep we keep Hilda Mama?" Miria begged,

Hilda for her part hadn't said or done a thing and was a little white faced, until Miria asked her mother about Hilda staying and then she blushed.

"Please Mama," Miria begged again, "please,"

Clare joined in,

"Please, please, please, please!"

Hysteria looked at both of the children and sighed,

"Alright, you can stay," Hysteria told the Number 47.

Hilda's eyes widened and she felt the overwhelming urge to hug the tall warrior,

"Thank you," Hilda hugged the tall warrior, crying.

Hysteria sighed and waited until the girl had calmed down before introductions could commence. Hilda explained what caused her to leave the Organization and she told them what she'd seen in Sutafu, so cunningly hidden from the warriors. Hysteria's eyes went wide as Hilda went on saying that the men were interested in what they called the ability inheritance experiment. However they hadn't found a subject to test it on. Irene asked Hilda what she meant and Hilda took a deep breath,

"They were wondering what would happen if instead of yoma flesh being put in to humans, what would happen if they used a warrior's flesh instead." Hilda replied, "It sounded really complicated,"

"I see," said Hysteria, "in other words they want some like Clare, or perhaps even Miria, because Miria certainly has my blood in her,"

Hilda looked at Miria, asleep on her side, blond hair fanning out, framing her face making it appear longer than Hysteria's.

"I'm not sure," said Hilda, "Miria seems stronger than Clare, and Clare's yoki is almost identical to Teresa's."

"That's because I bore Miria, while Clare had Teresa's flesh and blood put in her," Hysteria replied.

As expected Hilda found it hard to believe that Miria was indeed born half yoma, however once she like the others saw the vast difference of Miria's body to their own, it was clear to Hilda that Miria was indeed born half yoma. She was a lucky child, although apparently her eyes were unaffected by the eye colour changing medication. Hilda realised that was the price that Miria had to pay. It made Hilda appreciate that at least she could hide her eye colour, but the cut on her body, roughly sewn together was her give away. Even if it was easy to hide, Hilda knew that no man would ever want to bed her, her body was just too horrible, too revolting for any man. Clare's was neater than Hilda's, as if she'd been carefully sewn together; it wasn't as bad as Hilda's.

The group travelled on and carefully negotiated through Riful's territory, making sure that they kept hidden. Hysteria found a nice place for them to stay, even if for a little while, and the warriors all trained to get stronger.

By the time Miria was 17 she had achieved a level that was easily that of a single digit ranked warrior. Miria, Clare and Hilda had all gotten quite strong. Hysteria knew that it was time to travel on, as Miria and Clare would need to start fighting monsters now. They left for Doga, as Teresa had sensed a yoma there. It was Clare that raced on ahead, Miria had wanted to go, but Clare insisted that she could handle the yoma. Clare's long hair swung in the wind as she walked forward. She would make Teresa proud.

Clare walked into the town, her mark-less claymore in her back. The humans were all gathered, expressions ranging from shock to horror and even fear.

"It just goes to show that it takes a monster to kill a monster," a man said.

Clare looked him in the eye, had Teresa taken such mean comments? Clare now understood, if this was what Teresa faced all the time it was small wonder that she held a dislike for humans, and it was most likely why she was so cold and uncaring, under such harsh words you had to be. Clare gained a new respect for Teresa and the other warriors. They really had a horrible time. Clare headed towards the centre of the village, lost in her own thoughts. She walked in to the door and the village elder looked up,

"Ah, thank goodness you've arrived," he said, turning to his attendant he said, "You go get it,"

Clare tilted her head as the other human ran and brought a large sack,

"Here is the payment for your services, please check that it's all there," the elder said, he was nervous, the poor man, thought Clare. She was willing to bet that the whole town had scraped their entire savings and earnings to make enough for an Organization warrior to kill the yoma

"You don't need to pay me," said Clare gently, "I am simply passing through, and since I know that there is a yoma here, I'll get rid of it for you."

"Oh," he said, visible relief on his face,

Clare smiled kindly, "I'll do my best, don't worry, I'll find it."

She left the elder.

The man starred as the Claymore left, closing the door behind her. She was kind, although he'd heard rumours that her kind were monsters and almost as bad as the yoma themselves. He was surprised that she didn't even ask for payment, and she was so kind, her long hair framed her face. She wasn't even wearing amour, instead wearing a black outfit that gave her maximum movement and a strap to hold her sword to her back. Her long blond hair had swayed as she left, a blond curtain flowing out behind her as she walked.

Clare walked among the humans and tried to sense out the yoma. She focused on the scent and was so caught up in it that when a human boy ran up behind her smelling like the yoma that she was tracking, she swung her blade hard, stopping short of the boy as he was a human,

"What was that for?" the boy asked, "I was only following you,"

"Sorry about that," said Clare,

She turned and sniffed the air carefully, the yoma was here, but where was it.

"Are you a Claymore?" the boy asked,

"No," said Clare absently, she was more focused on the yoma's sent than anything else.

"Oh, ok," said the boy, he sounded confused,

Clare felt guilty and turned to face him,

"I don't work for the Organization, and by the way, they don't have a name," she told the boy, "you are a strange human, aren't you scared of me?"

"No you're just like a normal girl," the boy replied, "actually you're prettier than the girls here."

Clare's eyes widened and she turned around to hide her blush. It was embarrassing that a human boy even liked her.

"Uh it didn't mean it like that!" his eyes were wide, "I meant to say that you look pretty,"

Clare's long hair swayed around her as she turned to face the boy. As she did so she felt the yoma's yoki.

"Sorry, but we'll have to talk later," she ran off.

Teresa was trying not to bite her fingernails and had annoyed Hysteria for the last hour and a half about how Clare was going. When Clare came back it was Teresa that hugged her tightly, the warrior stepped back and only then did they notice the young boy that was behind Clare,

"Who is this?" Teresa asked Clare,

"His name is Raki," Clare replied, she looked sadly at the boy, still dazed from what had happened, Clare's voice dropped to a whisper "They threw him out, even though I told them he wasn't a yoma, they still threw him out,"


	3. Chapter III: Addition of Silence

Chapter 3: Addition of Silence

The older warriors were in a state of half uproar after Clare had told them why Raki was with her. Raki for his part said very little, and Hysteria guessed that he was quite traumatised by what had happened. He stayed near Clare and kept quiet. It was as if he was trying not to annoy them and keep out of the way. Clare and Hilda tried everything that they knew to try and bring Raki out of his shell, but in the end it was Miria that surprised everyone.

"We all lose a loved one sometime in our life," she said, "it doesn't mean that they are gone forever, it just means that they are at peace and watch over us with their love to guide us."

Raki's tear streamed eyes looked up at the young woman, and he looked at Clare,

"We all have losses, Raki," Clare said sadly, "I know how you feel,"

He looked at Clare and then nodded,

"Perhaps if you had something to eat, it might help you," Irene suggested,

"I can cook," Raki said, rubbing the tears from his eyes. Clare gave a small smile and Sophia sighed. Noel punched the air,

"Well then, how about being a cook?" Teresa absently suggested, to which Raki nodded furiously, "I see, a cook you can be,"

Hysteria leaned back and listened to the conversation but didn't really say anything. She knew Raki's position better than anyone else, far better perhaps than even Clare. She had heard that Teresa was sold to the Organization, but Hysteria wondered if it was something that she didn't know that was to be the deciding factor of this growing group. She wondered how Miria was so wise and smiled. Perhaps the lessons taught by the older warriors were starting to sink in to Miria's mind. Or not, as Hysteria watched her daughter pick up the sword that she'd carried since Hilda had joined their group, giving Clare the blade that she used to carry and began to spar with Hilda for the sake of it. Hysteria watched her daughter carefully and noticed that she seemed to be trying to do something. As she watched Teresa stood up and looked around them, and suddenly Miria's yoki burst, just as Hysteria's did to gain speed over her opponent, Hilda slashed at Miria's head but the sword didn't do anything. They all froze as they looked at the scene. Miria appeared behind Hilda and swung her blade. Hilda jumped and their blade smashed with a loud banging sound. Teresa blinked and looked over to Hysteria, the latter being pleasantly surprised by what she'd just witnessed. It seemed that Miria had left an after image that stood there to be cut, the expression was one of shock on the image's face and Hysteria wondered how Miria had done it. It was clear to the others that this "phantom" wasn't quite ready to face up to an experienced single digit, but it would be enough for Miria to get away to safety if she had to.

Meanwhile further in the distance a warrior that many thought to be dead had sensed the child's movements and decided to see exactly what was going on. She sensed her students training three young ones and she'd felt quite pleased that the skills that she taught them were being rightly handed down. The Silent warrior smiled as she'd watched them ever since she'd felt Hysteria sneak off and escape from the Organization. She had lied to the men and told them that at the time, Hysteria had died from an unknown cause. She sighed and patted her sleeping white wolf. The creature had grown a lot in the time that she'd had her and now Kate came up to The Silent's hips. As she smiled at the wolf, she could already sense her two comrades heading towards her.

"Meg, Claire, it's time to find Teresa, she will need our help," Chloey told the older warriors who she knew so well.

"How come Chloey?" asked Claire,

"They are hiding," Chloey responded, "it seems that they are trying to avoid comrades, a sure sign that they have deserted,"

Meg and Claire gripped their swords and Chloey sheathed her blade, she would arrive to meet them in good time.

The addition of Raki was an interesting change from normal and Hilda was beginning to notice that Clare seemed to be spending a lot of time with the young human. Of course Hilda figured that he might want some space and she fell back a bit, but as Raki slowly came out of his shell it was clear that he liked Clare a little too much. Hilda noticed that the two were often walking together, sometimes with Miria and talking.

Raki joined the group as they travelled around the region. The older warriors had decided that they would travel onwards and the group travelled towards Mucha. Raki turned out to be quite a good cook and it wasn't long before they came across a group what appeared to be humans in cloaks and a large white wolf. Teresa was the first to realise that they had run in to a group of warriors that hadn't been seen for a long time, ones that were thought to be dead to the Organization. Not even Hysteria could match the leader of the group and she had the Number 1 over The Silent Chloey. Yet the smaller warrior was far stronger and hadn't put up a fight when Hysteria claimed the Number 1, she'd just held back as they kept her at Number 5. Hysteria froze and regarded the woman that could have killed them all if she wanted to. Had it have been under any other circumstance the former Number 1 would have tried to run, although the warrior that she was looking at was one of the most deadly warriors to come across. It was Hysteria that spoke,

"Why are you here?" she asked,

"The same reason as you," the small warrior whispered, her voice still carried despite the fact that she was so quiet "we are simply keeping clear of the Organization."

Hysteria looked at the small warrior and then the small warrior spoke again, "I don't intend to take over your authority, I will do as you require. After all eyes are always useful as you would know Hysteria."

"Of course," said Hysteria, "we needed someone like you The Silent one,"

The small warrior pulled back her hood to reveal a long face, and cautious silver eyes. Her long pale blond hair was pulled back in to a high ponytail and she was as tall as the blade that she carried on her back. Clare was amazed that she was so small. The other two that were travelling with her were much taller, more around Miria's height. One of them had her long blond hair pulled back in to two pigtails and the other wore her hair in a pale ginger bob that covered both of her eyes. Both of the taller companions were weaker than the small Claymore. The large white wolf had jewel green eyes that glinted mischievously, and it seemed like it was going to do something that was going to rock the group. It opened its large jaws and actually spoke,

"I believe that I know most of you, but how about we have some introductions first, I know that most of us know who the others are, but I believe that it would benefit us all to have a proper introduction at the very least."

No one knew what to make of the white wolf's words, least of all Hilda. As she looked the smallest warrior smiled, "Yes that much is true, most people have forgotten me it seems, but I was once the "eyes" of the Organization, Meg and Claire were Numbers 19 and 20 respectively," she lowered her head in a half bow.

"Weren't you a former Number 2 at one stage?" Hilda asked the smaller warrior

She just laughed softly and sighed, "Yes, I was the former Number 2 before I decided to leave the Organization, I was known to them as The Silent Chloey, though my technique isn't worth you seeing at any rate."

Hilda had never heard of eyes so when Chloey, Meg and Claire joined their group Hilda had to learn that there were some things that they couldn't do. Chloey was so sensitive to yoki that she could tell them exactly what was going as far away as Sutafu. She could tell them when a new warrior was dispatched, how strong she was and where she was servicing. Chloey could also tell them where the new eyes was and that Rafaela was no longer hidden away as she'd been in the past, but rather was back in service once more. This information helped Hysteria greatly as she would never have known otherwise. Chloey soon proved why she was worth keeping and as they travelled Chloey detected many traps that wouldn't have been seen until too late. One such trap that they almost fell for was a male awakened being. It just so happened that they came across the male that Chloey had warned them about. She made sure that they killed him and that was the end of it. Miria worked hard on her illusion and Chloey was rather helpful, much to Hysteria's surprise. Chloey seemed to know exactly how Hysteria executed her sword technique and was able to guide Miria to improve her own technique. Miria wasn't as good as her mother, but she was getting there as far as Chloey was concerned.

Miria Clare and Hilda had pulled off an amazing team effort that killed yet another male awakened being. He had many arms and was quite powerful. Miria struck at it as Chloey froze him in place. Hilda jumped up and Clare followed what she could sense, coming close to the same technique that Teresa used in battle. Teresa was forced to hold back as Chloey had told the older warriors to let the younger ones learn. Hysteria soon saw why Chloey had prevented the more experienced warriors from entering the battle. It gave Miria a chance to learn how to use her sword. Clare and Miria both killed the awakened being, with minimal assistance from Chloey. Luckily the battle was short and they were able to move out very quickly. Chloey had sensed the young "eyes" following them and she told Hysteria that they were being followed at a distance. Hysteria wasn't pleased and once again pushed the others to hide their yoki. Chloey's yoki was already hidden so she helped teach the younger warriors how to conceal their presence. Chloey then used an interesting trick that was more than enough to frustrate the girl. She made sure that she manipulated the girl's yoki enough to drive her insane. It was clear that the girl wasn't too pleased that someone was able to play with her at a distance and she couldn't sense who it was that was doing it to her.

They travelled further west. Chloey sensed out none other than Riful of the West gathering warriors. Hysteria decided that they had enough power to take out that foul creature of the abyss and save the warriors at the same time. Chloey sighed, but she agreed to help them as much as she could.

They arrived in the town and calmly walked towards Riful's lair, running in to a girl that was so badly hurt that Chloey said she didn't have very long to live, but they had better act fast as the lower ranked warrior that was in Riful's lair was close to her yoki limit and Chloey couldn't help her. They left the warrior reluctantly racing towards where the other two warriors were being held captive. Chloey help up a hand and Hysteria lightly touched the rods that scattered the ground. Chloey hissed and Clare used Irene's quick sword attack, much to Teresa's surprise cutting the yoma in to shreds. The other yoma ran away, only to be smashed apart by a large awakened one that made Clare's skin crawl.

"I suggest that Kate Clare, Raki Miria and Hilda should stay back with Noel Sophia Meg and Claire," Chloey spoke softly from the front, "while Teresa Hysteria and I deal with Riful and her lover Dauf. It will be safer to do it that way as we should be able to take her by surprise."

Hysteria was surprised by Chloey's plan, but it made sense to work it that way. Chloey rushed forward, unsheathing her blade with a speed that Irene had long since envied her master as having. Chloey cut Dauf's thick hide without so much as shifting her yoki. Not even Teresa could match such a feat. Teresa sighed as Chloey near took off Dauf's head. Hysteria and Teresa supported Chloey's attack and they managed to kill him, but not without using their yoki and alerting Riful to their presence.

"Riful is aware of the two of you," said Chloey calmly, "however she is unaware of the rest of us. She is worried because the two of you are together. Damn!" she cursed, "That young "eyes" is heading towards us. She sensed the death of Dauf."

Hysteria looked at Chloey's expression and noticed that the small warrior was annoyed.

Under the ground a young woman was struggling with her yoki power, she was quite close to losing her human mind. The other warrior had felt the death of the man and as she looked at her comrade. Jean drew in a deep breath that was half chocked with pain that laced her body; she fought her yoki power with everything that she had as it was difficult to control now that she was in such pain. She could feel Katea's body slowly shifting, but then she felt someone or something pull her comrade back.

"Oh," said Riful of the West, "what is this…her yoki went back?"

"Of course it did, bitch," a small warrior came from behind with a fury like no other, her voice soft yet menacing at the same time, Jean could feel great power and yet she couldn't sense any yoki from the warrior at all "I'm sick and tired of watching you hurt my comrades and forcing them to awaken, it's time you got a dose of your own medicine,"

The warrior's eyes shone gold and Jean felt a fear like no other, this warrior was far stronger than Riful, so strong in fact Jean could see that even Riful was shaking,

"Who are you?" the abyssal demanded, though she was afraid

"The former Number 2, The Silent Chloey," the warrior replied, her fury rose but her yoki remained just enough to change the colour of the small warrior's eyes.

As Jean looked she saw two more warriors appear out of the shadows with a group of warriors behind them,

"Miria, please free the girls in the shackles, Clare can you try to help them heal, Hysteria Teresa, I'm going to need the two of you to help me, we'll finish Riful."

With that the small warrior jumped and made a smooth stroke with her claymore, cutting Riful clean in half before the abyssal could say a word. Then while she was spluttering in shock, the long wavy haired warrior and the tall warrior with her hair pulled back in to a braid struck as one. Riful died in as little as three strokes of the sword.

The warriors were helped out of their shackles and healed with Chloey's help. Hysteria was surprised that the single digit was so grateful that she would give them her life. Hysteria had tried to dissuade the girls, but they both decided to follow their group. Miria and Jean got on quite well, Jean amusing Miria with some jokes that she'd heard. Clare also got on well with Jean and Raki had his hands full as he was now cooking for several "Claymores". Katea was a nervous girl who said very little, she preferred to stay back a bit from the rest of the group, but she was very polite. Chloey stood guard over the girls for the night. She sat with her back on her claymore Kate asleep near her left leg. Chloey ranged out to sense what she could and she could sense the young eyes talking to Rafaela. Chloey stood up quickly, tense as she realised that her captain was once again in service. Chloey paused as she realised that Rafaela couldn't sense her or that the young eyes couldn't sense her either, but she knew that it wouldn't take long before they headed in the direction of the group. Chloey decided that she would have to stop them, but she didn't know if it was worth the risk. Hysteria's arms were wrapped around Miria and Hilda was flat on her side snoring. Clare lay with her head on Irene's stomach of all people while Raki slept near the fire that Chloey had built and Sophia and Noel was side by side. Meg and Claire slept with their backs on their swords as they would be the next to watch the group. Jean was moaning in her sleep and Katea sat up, occasionally throwing glances at Chloey. Teresa slept soundly, much like she had as a trainee. Now that Chloey was on her feet she could see that Katea was looking at her with a worried expression. Chloey carefully touched the girl's mind to soothe her. It seemed to work as Katea feel asleep. Chloey remained on her feet, sensing what was going on with Rafaela and the young eyes.

Rafaela hadn't believed Galatea at all. She knew that Chloey was one of the few warriors who would out rank Galatea at any rate. She also knew that sensing Chloey would be a feat and a half as the small warrior could sense even Rafaela at great distances, despite the fact that she had a suppressed yoki. As Rafaela argued with Galatea she decided that it wasn't worth her time. She turned her back on the younger warrior, intending to see for herself if her small comrade was still alive or not. Her amour clanked as old memories surfaced. Chloey had always looked up to Rafaela, and it had been uncomfortable at times. She wondered often wondered why the younger warrior had always seemed to look up to her and couldn't draw a conclusion. If Chloey was alive then Rafaela would have her work cut out.

Miria sighed and stretched. Chloey was still on her feet and it seemed that they were moving out for the day. Jean and Katea pulled their ruined amour back on and the group moved out for the day. Chloey decided that the next town that they went to would be where they got Jean and Katea some proper clothing so that they didn't stick out like sore thumbs. Chloey stretched and then the rest of the group started out for the day.

Raki was the first to notice that something was up with Chloey, which was unusual as Meg was usually the first to sense it in Chloey's yoki. Chloey tensed and Hysteria realised that Chloey could sense someone that was near them. They all froze as a young woman showed herself. She had long hair that came down to her waist and a side swept fringe. Chloey didn't even look in her direction.

"I know that you are here, Rafaela," Chloey murmured softly, "I can still sense your presence even if you haven't used you yoki in all this time."

Everyone turned and sure enough a claymore stepped out of the trees,

"I see that time has sharpened you," the claymore stated, she had one eye that was missing, and her hair was short. "I am surprised that you can pull off such suppression, The Silent Chloey,"

"As you have done captain," Chloey replied, "this girl isn't good enough you of all people should know that."

The longhaired warrior flinched and Chloey pulled her blade, "So be it," The Silent whispered. Raki had never seen such speed or power come from such a small person. It was Rafaela that was shocked. Chloey jumped and blocked both of them like they were nothing to her,

"I'm sorry for ever deceiving you captain," Chloey whispered again, "to be honest I never wanted the Organization knowing what I could ever do. I decided to hide my trump card until it was needed, which will be soon if I know what I'm thinking will happen."

Hysteria and the others went to help Chloey, but Rafaela sheathed her sword, "I see, you are stronger than they ever knew," she looked The Silent in the eye, "I knew that they were lying when they said that you were dead,"

"Of course they would, but as far as they knew they were telling you the truth, and as far as they should be concerned we are all corpses, so they don't need to track corpses do they?" Chloey asked Rafaela,

"As it is, I will ask just one question, Luciela where is she?" Rafaela asked,

"She hides in the south, as she has done for many years, she seems to be fine, but I wouldn't put it past her to try to expand her territory now that Riful is gone," Chloey spoke absently, "as it is I will do everything in my power to assist you as that is my duty, I know what you want Rafaela, I doubt that anyone else would,"

"Indeed," the older warrior spoke, "then I trust that you won't mind me joining you party?"

"You would be most welcome to come with us," said Hysteria calmly, "I am sure that you will find a raison d'être Rafaela, because I know a certain warrior would miss you dearly if you were to die."

Everyone suddenly looked at Chloey who smiled softly and lowered her head, trying to conceal a blush that she never would have been able to at any rate.

Rafaela felt the strangest of emotions she found it hard to believe that Chloey still had the same outlook that she had when Luciela had awakened. Of course Galatea was set off with questions which made Chloey slap her across the face and snap that it was none of her business. Rafaela had felt a smile creep on to her face. Chloey hadn't changed at all. She hated it when others interrupted her in mid-sentence and she also disliked it when others were loud, controlling their yoki to the point that they couldn't move or speak. She had forgotten just how funny the little warrior could be.


	4. Chapter IV: Hard Times

Teresa sighed as she witnessed Galatea's indignation at being slapped across the face. Chloey didn't care and was already planning what to do next with Hysteria. Miria gazed at the warriors around her confused for not the first time. It was as if the warriors wanted to have a fight, but they were doing their best to get along. It was Clare that asked why the warriors were so uptight. Everyone was surprised that it was Chloey, who spoke up,

"How about we tell the young ones a story," she took a deep breath, "it will do us the world of good I think,"

"Yes, but what story were you thinking of, Chloey?" Hysteria asked the small warrior.

Chloey smiled then spoke with her hardly audible voice, "How about why we have nicknames,"

They all looked at her and Rafaela spoke up, "Those of us that were given nicknames I assume,"

Chloey nodded calmly, "It will help them to learn the past and the present,"

Rafaela nodded, "So do we start with the beginning then?"

"I suppose we should…" Teresa sighed

Rafaela had spent a long time avoiding anything that could have caused her to draw attention to herself, she simply tried to say as little as possible, but she soon found that Chloey still out did her a thousand fold. In fact the one who talked the most was the one that wasn't even human, the white wolf called Kate. Rafaela had seen the wolf follow Chloey everywhere, ever since it was a pup. To hear it talking was unnerving to say the least, with Rafaela almost feeling as if it were a comrade the way it spoke to everyone. Rafaela decided that they should at least train together to try to improve their overall group performance. She had yet to see Chloey in a group as an experienced warrior, and from what she had heard from Hysteria, Chloey was as lethal as she was when she was the Number 7, causing both Riful's and Dauf's deaths without raising her yoki.

Rafaela had been wide eyed when she heard just how easily Chloey had killed Riful, almost on her own, with little more than a couple of sword strokes from Hysteria and Teresa. Rafaela looked at the small warrior sleeping and wondered how she had such power in the first place that the Organization should be completely oblivious to it. Sure they had known that she was a powerful warrior that her yoki perception was something, yet as far as Rafaela had known it was clear that they missed her power and under ranked her.

Rafaela had spoken about Chloey's nick name and told the others a story as to how Chloey had gotten that name, most of the warriors should have known why Chloey had that name in the first place and it was when she was a trainee, something that Miria had found interesting enough to ask questions about and really make Rafaela work to please the girl's active mind. Hilda had chipped in adding her own experiences and then before they knew it, Chloey had yawned and fallen asleep next to her large white wolf Kate.

Rafaela looked at her and felt a strange feeling that she'd felt before when looking at the small warrior. Rafaela had felt the most interesting things around Chloey; indeed she'd seen some strange things around the former "eyes" that Galatea would curl over. It had been Chloey that had kept a tight eye on the new Number 1 and Number 2, Alicia and Beth. So far the Organization was more concerned about completing their training rather than sending them after warriors that were supposed to be corpses any way. They would have no idea that the most powerful warrior alliance had been formed.

Jean was quite keen to assist in any way that she could, as she wanted to prove that she was a valuable asset to the group, keeping Miria and Clare entertained so that the two were out of trouble. Katea had said very little, but seemed in awe of Teresa and Chloey, particularly Chloey who'd helped her pull her yoki under control. Rafaela had observed that Miria, Clare and Hilda were all pretty close, almost as close as Chloey had been to her friends Lisa, Misty and Kate. Rafaela had heard that Skylar had been killed in action, Chloey being quite upset about that, certainly enough to work through to the Number 2 and leave the Organization with Meg and Claire. Rafaela had heard that the Organization gave up on finding Chloey at all, as she was just too good at distance perception as it was. They knew that she was powerful by this stage and basically left Chloey alone, much like they had the creatures of the abyss.

Rafaela waited for any sign that Rubel was in sight. She knew the man was cunning, but she didn't know just how he'd found her, or perhaps he'd been following them somehow, she didn't know. All she knew was that Chloey was helping them as much as she could; she suggested that they head towards the north. She must have been planning to take out Isley of the north then, or at the very least hiding in the north. Rafaela had talked with Hysteria in a low voice long after Clare and Miria had gone to sleep. She asked Hysteria what the younger warrior had planned and she said soberly, "We attack Isley," she looked at their group, "Chloey says that the warriors up in the north are in trouble so we're going to help them, along with the other two deserters that we found,"

Both of them looked at the sleeping twins and Rafaela felt sorry for them. They were the children that the Organization had taken from their family, Bella and Leah who were almost like Rafaela and Luciela except they were twins. They were marked for death when it was discovered that they couldn't harmonize their yoki and they somehow managed to escape the men. Or so they said. They had only just found the twins and Hysteria had questioned the two but wasn't able to come up with a proper conclusion. It was a strange situation to say the least.

Hysteria leant back and looked at Miria with a mother's heart. She didn't want Miria in the fight that was going to come. However there wasn't much choice and as she knew that they were going to have to face the Organization and its current warriors and they were going to need all of the power that they could get. It worried Hysteria that she had to bring her own daughter into a battle that she wasn't even involved in. Chloey had been even more reluctant about Miria and Clare being involved in the battle plans as both girls weren't quite ready as she put it. Hysteria looked at Rafaela and explained what they had in mind. Rafaela froze as she realised what was going on. It seemed that Hysteria and Chloey had decided to give the girls another 7 years to get stronger, despite the fact that Hysteria wanted to take the Organization now while they were at the most weakest, but Chloey seemed to think that there was a better way of doing it, a way that could save some warriors' lives. Chloey herself had quietly pointed out the need to take their time and plan carefully as the Organization would have plenty of other weapons up their sleeves not just Alicia and Beth. Hysteria had listened to the advice of the "eyes" even Galatea had agreed with Chloey, adding that the Organization had been looking in to new weapons, monsters that couldn't be perceived by someone like those warriors who could sense yoki at distances.

The now large group travelled deep in to the northern lands of Alphonse, having met with the warriors at Pieta being led by the current Number 8, Windcutter Flora. She knew that the warriors were giving the mission of fighting the army of awakened beings as the Organization knew that there would be no survivors from the mission. She spoke with Hysteria at length, and was grateful for a way to save both herself and her comrades' lives. Hysteria spoke to all the warriors present and once they hear how they were affected by the Organization's orders they all chose to follow Hysteria. She made the choice to directly face Isley of the north with Chloey's help. She called the warriors all together and they pushed further north.

The snow drifts were uncomfortable to walk in and most of the warriors were saving their strength for the semi battle that was bound to happen. All the warriors under Flora weren't sure if they were making the right choice, but they didn't want to die. Lily took in a deep breath as she walked through the snow drifts. She was trying to encourage her comrade Yuma, and even Cynthia was trying to as well. The three almost jumped out of their skins when the blond with shaggy razor banged hair came over to them. Her x shaped scars were frightening, yet for all the scariness of her appearance Lily noticed that she was very kind,

"We're almost there," she said gently, "we don't have far to go now."

Yuma huffed and puffed in relief, clanking forwards as fast as she could. It didn't help that they'd been walking for nearly three days now and at any moment Yuma was going to collapse. The blond girl noticed that Yuma was tired and she suddenly picked Yuma up. Yuma didn't have enough strength to protest, Lily too busy gaping at the girl and thinking "single digit warrior" to even say anything. It was Cynthia that decided to actually ask the girl what her name was,

"I'm Miria," she smiled kindly, "and this is my friend Hilda,"

A short haired blond walked up and it was clear that she was carrying a young human wrapped in a thick warm coat. He was looking around and trying to avoid the wind as much as he could,

"Hilda, where's Clare?" he asked Hilda,

"She's up with Teresa at the moment Raki," Hilda calmly told him, Lily heard him sigh and saw him lean in to Hilda. She was surprised that they had covered the distance that they had in such a short time. No doubt about it, the warriors had travelled a long way. Yuma let out a moan and Lily was grateful when the warrior with high pigtails called them in to camp.

Hysteria regarded all of the warriors that had joined them and sighed. There were no fewer than 24 warriors that were meant to fight over powered awakened beings. Hysteria felt her blood boil at the thought of what would have happened had they not headed north as Chloey had suggested. The small warrior was both cunning and knowing at the same time. According to Chloey the Organization was "purging" it warriors something that it did from time to time to help younger warriors come through, as she had seen as the Number 2 prior to leaving the organization. All the warriors listened in shock and horror as Chloey had spoken of the mass killings that had taken place after Hysteria had left. The Organization was well known for treating their warriors poorly and acting as if they were expendable. Chloey told them of her tasks as the "eyes" and even Galatea was sickened by what Chloey had been forced to do straight out of training. Hysteria sighed, "Well then, what are we to do? The Organization is clearly unforgiveable and if what you're saying is correct Chloey, they are creating the yoma which makes it that much worse in the first place."

"I have seen things that others have not, and due to my quiet nature I found out more than they ever wanted. They were waiting for you, Galatea as an excuse to get rid of me," Chloey sighed softly, "they knew that I knew too much and they wanted me dead, as they most likely want you dead."

The warriors flinched and Galatea looked at Chloey

"You know of all the warriors of the Organization, you were the most important tool that ever existed at least before Luciela awakened," Rafaela replied, "it seems that they wanted that ability for a reason,"

"Of course, not only to keep track of the warriors, but to kill deserters and awakened beings," Chloey sighed

The warriors all spoke about what to do when Chloey detected Isley's suppressed yoki. Rigaldo was with him as well as many awakened beings. It was clear that they were going to have to fight thankfully though it was clear that Isley hadn't sensed the warriors so they would have some time to prepare for the battle that was ahead. Clare decided that she would keep Raki out of danger; she said that she would stay with Raki. Chloey spoke with Hysteria and then Hysteria decided to split the warriors in to smaller teams,

"Unfortunately our hand is forced we are going to have to fight the awakened beings, so everyone please listen up. I would like you all to get in to teams with a single digit as the leader or an experienced warrior. Teams need to be at least 4 people or more" Hysteria told the warriors, "I'll start by splitting you up in to your teams."

Hysteria went among the warriors and asked them what their names and ranks were. She listened carefully to each warrior and each warrior spoke,

"My name is Galatea, I am the Number 3," said a wavy haired warrior, Chloey had thought she was a single digit

"You will be on team Irene," Chloey said calmly, much to the gathered warriors' surprise. The all looked to Hysteria and she spoke up, "I stand corrected, as Chloey can sense your potential better than I she will sort the teams, there will be no arguments."

A warrior with her hair in a long braid stepped forward, "I'm the Number 4, Ophelia,"

"Team Teresa," Chloey replied,

"I'm the Number 8, Flora," a warrior with wavy hair like Teresa's stepped forwards

"Team Hysteria,"

A warrior with long hair and large muscles came forward, "I'm Undine, the Number 11,"

"Team Rafaela,"

"I'm called Veronica," another warrior with her hair in a long pony tail stepped forward, "I'm the Number 12,"

"Team Chloey,"

"I'm the Number 13, Cynthia" a smallish warrior with her hair tied in two low pigtails stepped forward confidently,

"Team Irene,"

"I'm the Number 15, Deneve," the warrior stepped forward and she wore her hair like a boy's

"Team Teresa,"

"I'm Number 17, Eliza," her hair was cut similar to when Chloey was a young warrior, but shorter,

"Team Hysteria,"

"I'm Lily, the Number 18," she walked forwards,

"Team Rafaela,"

"I'm Number 20, Queenie,"

"Team Chloey,"

"Number 22, Helen,"

"Team Irene,"

"I'm the Number 24, Zelda,"

"Team Teresa,"

"Number 27 Amelia,"

"Team Hysteria,"

"Number 30, Wendy"

"Team Rafaela,"

"Number 31, Tabitha,"

"Team Chloey,"

"Number 35, Pamela,"

"Team Irene,"

"Number 36, Claudia,"

"Team Teresa,"

"Number 37 Natalie,"

"Team Hysteria,"

"Number 39, Carla,

"Team Rafaela"

"Number 40, Yuma,"

"Team Chloey,"

"Number 41 Matilda,"

"Team Irene,"

"Number 43, Juliana"

"Team Teresa,"

"Number 44, Diana,"

"Team Hysteria"

"Number 45, Mia,"

"Team Rafaela"

"Number 46, Marie,"

"Team Chloey"

"Number 47 Kia" this warrior had coloured hair, so as she stepped forwards the others all whispered and made a fuss,

"SILENCE!" Chloey all but yelled. The warriors fell silent at once.

"Team Irene," Chloey said calmly, "Blind Meg team Teresa, Soft Heart Claire team Hysteria, Clare you will be on Rafaela's team. Miria, you are with me. Bella, Leah, the two of you will guard the human Raki, you will wait here for our return,"

"Once we have finished we will be hiding in the northern lands of Alphonse, those who wish to return to the Organization may do so. Know that you can return to us at any time," Hysteria told them, "Right now we have awakened ones to take care of, so we shall work together to end their terror on Alphonse!"

The warriors all cheered loudly and Hysteria felt a pang watching Miria look around her. In barely a few hours' time she would be facing her awakened father. The Silver Eyed Lion King Rigaldo.


	5. Chapter V:The Death of the Silver Kings

Rigaldo looked out through the snow and ice irritated with the weaker beings that he was forced to work with. He had detected a large group of warriors and had decided to sneak off without telling Isley what he was doing. He slipped away as the others began to fight among themselves about who was having what food. He rolled his eyes and travelled as near as he dared to the warriors. There were four captains that he could sense and a strange yoki that was larger than any he'd ever seen before, but she wasn't a captain. Rigaldo came close enough that he could see a small longhaired warrior crossing blades with the large yoki that rivalled Isley's. She had shaggy razor banged pale blond hair and the most striking silver eyes. An x shaped scar near her left eye made her look almost fierce, though her expression was one of determination. Rigaldo looked at the small warrior and felt his insides turn to ice. He had heard about that small warrior. She was slotted to become a Number 1 and all the awakened beings that had ever gone near her usually ended up as good as dead.

"The Silent Chloey, eh?" Rigaldo muttered to himself, "Small wonder no one senses you coming, your yoki is so cleverly concealed,"

He turned and moved as fast as he could, Isley would need to know that the Organization's little doll was out, Isley had assumed that they'd leave him in the north, however if the rumours were true about the small warrior killing Riful, then their way of life was doomed.

Miria jumped in the snow and rushed at Chloey, she was aiming to perfect her sword technique and Chloey was showing her how to keep herself defended. Miria fell over in to the snow as Chloey came over to her,

"Good," the small warrior told her, "you have come a long way Miria; you would rival your mother with speed."

Miria jumped up and brushed the snow off. Ever since they'd come to Alphonse the warriors had been keen to get even further away from the Organization as possible. Miria had heard whispers and she didn't know what was wrong. Hilda was calm, but she seemed to be hiding something from Miria, and she didn't know what it was. Miria was going to ask Hilda about that when her mother beckoned to her. Miria ran over to Hysteria with her usual enthusiasm. Then her mother led her away from the others.

"Come Miria," she said.

The two entered a clearing and Miria looked at the pristine white snow. Her mother had been acting strange and Miria didn't understand what it was about. As she looked around her Miria couldn't help but wonder why the snow smelt funny, as tainted by blood. The cold wind picked up and Miria continued to follow her mother.

After an hour of climbing Hysteria knew that the cave was up ahead. She'd sort it out so that she could talk to her daughter without the others to interrupt the conversation. Miria followed her mother in to the cave where Hysteria had a fire lit. It was hard to believe that Miria's birthday was soon. Her eighteenth birthday. Hysteria felt a shiver down her spine as she remembered that night, the night that she was raped by Rigaldo. She had put it away, but Miria needed to know what she was, and as far as Hysteria had known there wasn't anything different from a normal warrior.

Rigaldo warned Isley that there would be blood, Isley for his part was unconcerned by the fact that the Organization's little doll was there until several of the beings explained that she was the "eyes" and that she had frightening abilities that they didn't want to face.

"She's not called "The Silent" for nothing, you can't sense her coming until she's right on top of you!" someone exclaimed,

Isley called for calm and began to devise a plan, a plan that would counter whatever the claymores had planned. They would make it to the next territory, and they would expand their hunting grounds.

Miria was still shaking at her mother's revelation. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, nor would she believe it. It took her several minutes to calm down and even then she still wouldn't believe what she'd heard. Miria sat near the woman called Galatea, oddly subdued and quiet. It wasn't until Chloey beckoned to her that Miria moved at all. She followed Chloey to the clearing,

"You shouldn't feel bad about what you are Miria," Chloey had her back to Miria, her long pale hair glistening in the moonlight, almost white so that she blended in with the snow, hard to spot by the human eye,

"You knew?" Miria asked, "You knew that my father was an awakened being-"

"How could I not, your own yoki signature is a give-away Miria," Chloey turned to face Miria, her silver eyes gazing in to Miria's, "you are who you want to be, no one else can change what is in your heart, only you can. It will be up to you what you do; only you can choose the path you want to take. Indeed it doesn't matter to your mother about who your father is because she loves you enough to sacrifice everything just to keep you safe. You are different, but you are also the most powerful team member we have. Without you Miria, we have nothing to stop the monsters that you are not, even if you share part of your signature with one of them,"

Miria gaped as she realised what Chloey was saying. She'd heard from the others that Chloey rarely said anything and this was the most that Miria had ever heard her say at any one time. Miria looked down for a time and then looked at Chloey, the small warrior nodded and Miria felt determined. She would stop the awakened beings from harming the people that she cared about.

Meanwhile Isley's plans were beginning to come to completion as he carefully worked out the best way to crush the annoying claymores. He decided on three scouts to see how the claymores would respond. The three were sure that they could end The Silent warrior's reign of terror. Each of them decided that if they did run into trouble, they would rush back and escape as they figured that surely The Silent couldn't hold more than one of them at a time. Isley however warned them to be careful all the same, not that they listened to him. The three had wanted to end the warrior, though they didn't know that The Silent warrior would have a much greater chance of picking up what was going on. The beings were walking in to their doom.

Chloey had detected the movement of three awakened beings. After consulting the other captains and talking to Sophia and Noel Chloey decided that she was going to lead her team ahead with two other teams leaving Raki with Bella, Leah, Sophia and Noel. Team Teresa and team Irene were to be on standby, however given the number of the warriors in each team Chloey was confident that they could handle the beings better than the normal Organization method of four warriors to a team. There were five teams with seven warriors in each team, a good three more warriors than the Organization ever had in a hunting party. Chloey knew that the warriors had to work together and she pushed the teams to work together. With that in mind Chloey made it clear that Sophia and Noel were to stay back with Bella and Leah as the two were still quite young and Chloey didn't want the two reaching their limits. Sophia and Noel had both sighed but agreed to follow Chloey's plan. Chloey had figured that there would be a manipulator among the awakened beings. Both Chloey and Galatea were ready to pull their comrades out of trouble if they needed it. Galatea hadn't seen Chloey fight at all and she doubted that Chloey knew what she was up against, but Hysteria had seen Chloey when she fought and was eager to see what Chloey could do now that she'd left the Organization and trained since she'd left them. Hysteria had seen how fast Chloey's sword was and knew that Chloey was able to slice through Dauf's hide without her yoki. She wondered if Chloey was planning to hold back or fully fight the monsters. She was worried about the fact that Miria hadn't taken the news of her being half an awakened being very well, or that she would possibly meet her father. Hysteria sighed as the wind picked up and made yet another blizzard blow over the waiting warriors. There were no humans, but three human like shapes approached the resting claymores. Chloey shot up and ran forward, and Hysteria drew her blade in readiness. Chloey was aiming for one particular one when a feathery shaped arm hit it in the head. No one knew how to react at first, but as Chloey focused on her next target the arm attacked again, striking the other two, spearing them in places that would have been vital,

"**Well, well, well, it seems that you have a little help eh,**" the awakened being rose up in to his monstrous form and tilted his head. His companion was also in his awakened form,

"**Shut up and die already**," all the claymores looking in shock as Miria moved forward, her arm was split out, the feathers having speared the awakened beings, Miria's yoki rose again, but she pushed it back down with ease,

"**Oh a child, how cute, can't wait to tell old Rigaldo he's got a kid**," the being snickered until Miria's arm cut him his head off in to pieces and the blood tainted the white snow. The other being was trying to pull at Miria's yoki, he was an oversized lizard that made Miria angry for a reason that she didn't know, and she sliced off his head as well. Chloey jumped off the ground and hacked his head apart as Miria retracted her arm. The others looked on in shock, but Chloey spoke,

"This battle was easy, but the next one will be harder than this," she took a breath, "we will have to face the Silver Eyed King of the North, Isley,"

The warriors all gasped and several cried out "Are you serious" and Chloey raised her blade, "So we must fight with all that we have, I don't want to have any one getting hurt!"

The blizzard screamed on and Isley was worried, he'd felt the death of the others and he realised that the young one seemed to be comfortable with her yoki. Her power was worrying and Isley didn't like it. it was that yoki alone that had ended the three awakened beings. Isley held his head in his hands, his hand was forced he was going to have to at least see this powerful being, and it was possible that it belonged to the Organization. He'd never expected them to make something of this magnitude, something that surpassed those so called creatures of the abyss. He had thought that Riful's death was just another rumour, but it seemed to be true. To true and Isley didn't have the strength to face them. He decided to send the others ahead, he said that he would follow later and he warned Rigaldo that there was a powerful being that had to be watched. Rigaldo for his part said nothing and lead the others away. Isley had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.

The warriors were all resting, after they found out about Miria, most of them got over it, trying to help Miria feel less alienated and alone, Ophelia wanted to fight Miria, but it was Chloey that surprised the warriors, she treated Miria the same as she had treated Miria from the beginning and encouraged the other warriors to do the same. Once the warriors had settled down for the night, Chloey lead her team to a clearing, to tell them what was expected in the upcoming battle.

"It is likely that Isley will feel threatened by Miria's power, but I doubt that he will personally come to deal with just her, it wouldn't make sense for him to just worry about on element. I believe that it is highly likely that he will come after me, if not Hysteria or Teresa, as they are both powerful as well. We will have to work out a strategy to deal with them as best as we can. I feel that we need to get to know one another's abilities as best as we can for the upcoming battle." The warriors looked at Chloey intently and Chloey spoke, more words then she wanted to, "Veronica, Tabitha, Yuma, Miria, I know that you are all defensive types, as we've seen already Miria can awaken parts of her body at will, Tabitha, tell me what can you sense,"

Tabitha blinked, and looked at Chloey, she was unsure, having seen that Chloey made Galatea look like a trainee, though Chloey seemed not to care about who could sense further. Tabitha stood and nervously closed her eyes. The first thing that she could sense was Miria's large over-powering yoki, filled with curiosity, and a deep kindness that Tabitha hadn't seen before. She could see the tiniest spark of yoki coming from Chloey, a calm yet sad yoki cloaked and hidden in deep. She could feel Queenie and Yuma and even Marie's weak yoki. She ranged out from the group and could feel Hysteria talking to her team, though she didn't know what was being said. She felt Galatea searching out whatever there was to seek, and then she felt them. Tabitha felt the colour drain from her face. There was no way they were going to be able to defeat the monsters that were coming for them. Not on their lives, even with the extra warriors here. The odds were just too great.

"You sense them, good," Chloey's soft voice broke the silence that Tabitha hadn't noticed. "I see a sensor is most useful no matter how she does it."

Tabitha looked at Chloey and felt the strangest of things, as if something was calming her yoki and she realised that Chloey's yoki was deeper than she'd been able to sense

"We will get hurt in this battle," Veronica sighed,

"We won't," said Chloey calmly, "The way things are Teresa, Irene and Hysteria are powerful enough to work together, I was the 'eyes' before Galatea was born, so I can do things that she can't if need be."

The younger warriors looked at Chloey surprised,

"I manipulate yoki to a degree that Galatea can't, I force my opponents to move how I want them, I don't need doubt in their minds like Galatea, though I can create it to help her and I will. I can tell that most of the awakened beings are going to head this way and attack us here, Isley has decided on numbers it seems."

The younger warriors shivered and Chloey stood up and motioned with her hand and they followed Chloey back towards the half destroyed town. The wind blew up a fierce blizzard and Tabitha wondered what was going to happen, she hoped that the battle wasn't going to be as fierce as the blizzard and that what Chloey said was true.

Tabitha snuck away from her resting team mates to see Flora, there were some things that she had wanted to ask and she didn't know what to say. Flora was known for her ability to ask questions that the younger warriors weren't able to ask and she was quite ask of their newly met older higher ranked comrades. When she saw Flora Tabitha felt relieved.

"Tabitha," Flora looked up and walked over to Tabitha, "is everything ok, is something bothering you?"

"Yes and no Captain Flora," said Tabitha, "it's my team leader,"

"Oh?" Flora sounded confused,

"How is she stronger than Galatea?" Tabitha asked,

"Oh," Flora blinked and the smiled, "well, that's easy enough to explain, you see Tabitha, The Silent Chloey was once the Number 2 in the Organization, but she was supposed to be the Number 1, she clearly has no desire to anything else than help us. I've heard that she is lethal in battle, you'll be safe with her Tabitha,"

Miria stretched and yawned. So far the awakened beings hadn't come. She didn't mind that, in fact she hoped they were afraid, she'd felt strangely happy that they weren't coming and she hoped that they were too scared to. Miria pulled her dress on and wished that she didn't have to. Something told her that she could let her body go, that she could let her yoki flow all out and still be ok. She didn't know that she was able to let her arm go like that, she'd wanted to see what would happen is she let her yoki in to just her arm and now she felt the need to see what else could happen, just so that she knew her own limits. Miria had felt nothing of the pain and the pleasure from the yoki release like the other warriors had described, in fact she felt nothing in it at all, as if it was such a part of her that she was able to let it go and not worry about it. she paused when she felt the first creatures and she could see what Chloey meant by a similar yoki. In fact Miria realised that the three just yesterday were like her, but not like her in the same token, as if something was different, just a small something that Miria couldn't define.

Rigaldo stood in the snow and waited to see how the claymores would react, so far none of them had moved forward and he wondered what was keeping them from coming in to battle.

"Go in there and kill them all," Rigaldo told his weaker companions, "don't leave a single one living,"

The others raised their yoki and transformed in to their awakened forms. Secretly Rigaldo enjoyed human form over his awakened form, only because it allowed him to get close to humans, but that was the only reason. If he could he would stay in that form, forever, unchanging. He knew though that such an action served to waste the yoki deep within his body and made him hungrier than needed. He had long since turned away from his human mind and he didn't care. He'd had more fun as an awakened being than as a human. He smirked as he thought about the last lot of fun, then his eyes narrowed as he felt someone die, and it seemed as if nothing had killed them,

"So you're making your move, The Silent Chloey," Rigaldo itched to face off with tiny warrior however Isley's orders were clear, leave the small woman to him. Rigaldo realised that she wasn't messing around and he raced forward. Screw Isley's orders he was going to get some action.

Chloey felt him coming and barely sprung away in time, "IRENE, TERESA, HYSTERIA LOOK OUT, TEAM RAFAELA BE AT THE READY"

Chloey felt the Lion King's attack and cursed. Miria rose her blade and made a surprise attack, managing to cut Rigaldo's arm. He went to grab it when Helen, the girl with the black sleeves shot it with her over extended arm. Chloey blinked and smiled quickly, she then returned her attention to Rigaldo, and not a moment too soon as his claws would have hurt her if she'd not been focusing and jumping away in the nick of time.

"**Well, well what have we here, two warriors that can move swiftly, shame really**," Rigaldo sighed, "**no matter I'm going to end you right here**."

"**Oh no you don't**." Miria snarled, "**No one hurts my captain or my mother and gets away with it**"

Miria's whole body was shifting and cracking, her dress was torn as her yoki climbed higher and higher. Miria's legs were completely gone, having turned in to spines and thin limb-like things. Miria's waist had curved blades what looked lethal and sharp, like Rigaldo's claws, but they looked harder than Rigaldo's claws. Miria's upper body was human like and she was covered in white fur, her hair looking slightly straw coloured. Rigaldo was dwarfed by Miria's awakened form, with Miria being slightly larger than her father. Rigaldo and the entire awakened army froze in shock as this new awakened being had power beyond Isley. Rigaldo watched is shock as she killed half of the monsters that were there. And she wasn't the only one doing the damage either. Rigaldo nearly lost another arm, and the small warrior tailed him like an annoying fly, although she was worse than one. Rigaldo jumped only to have a certain warrior attack him in mid-air, gracefully sliding through him. Her long hair flowed and she landed elegantly and turned to face him,

"Leave this one to me, please Chloey," Hysteria requested, "He and I have much to sort out after eighteen years,"

"Of course," the small warrior bowed her head, "You have full reign,"  
Hysteria struck again slashing Rigaldo in the chest deeply, sliding through his body like a ghost. Rigaldo felt more cuts over his body and before he could make another sound his life was ended by the blade of the woman that he lusted for.

Miria's awakened attacks didn't cease. She jumped and used her own claws to slice apart the other awakened beings and helped her comrades where she could. Miria saw Ophelia grin at her and Galatea looking worried before Miria launched herself after yet another awakened being.

By the time half of the army had been destroyed it was clear to Isley that he was going to have to get involved. As he walked in to the battle field it was clear that he was wrong about The Silent Chloey. He was wrong about Teresa of the Faint Smile and he was wrong about The Elegant Hysteria. The three warriors along with Rafaela had proven to be the worst combination, a combination that the Organization could cook up, and surely only they could bring such monsters together. He saw an awakened being pull back, but she wasn't like any that he'd ever seen before. She had felt like Rigaldo, yet she lacked the Lion King's fury, her yoki more stable than any yoki that Isley had ever seen. As he observed the carnage of awakened beings before him Isley held the blade in his hand, the old blade that he wanted with him if he ever were to die. Of all the monsters despite being the one that let himself awaken of his own violation, Isley still reattained some of his humanity. He had wanted to cross blades with the small woman that they called "The Silent" a warrior known as the most quiet warrior that ever existed. Isley walked forwards, and he opened his mouth to speak,

"Is 'The Silent' warrior here," he asked calmly. Several warriors flinched but a small warrior steeped out of the crowd, "Isley of the North," she said softly, "no words are needed, so let's begin,"

With that she moved forward faster than any human eye could follow. Isley raised his old claymore, the clash of metal was a sound to behold and the small warrior didn't hold back, swinging the blade surely with her left hand, holding her right as still as a post. Isley lifted the speed, and she briefly changed hands, and her right hand was far stronger, Isley could feel it. she knew that hand was stronger, and she used it skilfully. Isley allowed her to hurt him, to cut deep, to save what was left of his human mind. Isley wanted to fall as a warrior, not a monster.

Chloey moved forwards for the last time and killed Isley with a smooth stroke of the blade with her right hand. The warriors all gaped in shock. Until now, even Rafaela hadn't seen such a display of Chloey's power, she'd never seen Chloey so much as use her right arm in a fight except to kill, Isley was dead and Rafaela wondered why Chloey didn't show her power before.


	6. Chapter VI: Silent Revelations

The warriors were still twitching in both adoration and shock after they'd seen The Silent Chloey end The Silver Eyed King of the north Isley. Chloey had done nothing in the time that she was a warrior to show such frightening power. Even Rafaela was unable to believe her eyes, but she understood why Chloey had held back at once.

"Silence, we won't seek out the abyssal of the south, we will hide here, out of the Organization's sight. They don't have eyes for now and we have three, we will be able to detect their moves before they did them thanks to Chloey, Galatea, and Tabitha," Rafaela called out,

"For now we will train," Hysteria said, "We will out train the children that are the Number 1 and Number 2 and strengthen our own warriors,"

And so their training in the frozen lands of Alphonse began.

The cold winds blew up a lethal blizzard as two hooded figures walked around the town. So far there had been no sign of life in this desolate land and they were keen to return from their posts to speak of their discoveries to the elegant Phantom. It surprised them that the Organization had even bothered to send warriors up the north when The Elegant Hysteria had been declared the leader of the rebellion among the warriors who had followed her loyally since the battle of Pieta where she'd saved their lives. Tabitha stomped the snow off her leather boots and opened the tavern door. Former warriors of the Organization were sitting at the tables and drinking warm brews made by Rafaela, and she had a heavy hand. Helen was stumbling around the bar and joking about Clare, a sure fire way to have Teresa deck her, Tabitha noticed however that Helen was going to be lucky today as Teresa would be with Hysteria and her other advisors, mostly Irene and Teresa and Chloey, although Tabitha realised that Chloey was here of all places and not with Hysteria. It was strange that her leader would be here. Tabitha wondered why they were even given posts if Chloey could sense out what was happening at a distance. As if she knew that Tabitha was there, Chloey stood up, her sword making a slight noise and Rafaela taped a glass a couple of times to get silence, as Tabitha walked up to the bar. Helen wasn't totally drunk and Tabitha realised that Helen was pushing it out of her system to be drunk later. It was big news when they came, and any news of the area out of Alphonse was coveted.

Zelda lifted off her hood to reveal her short hair that covered the left; she had had seven years of hard training and it showed. All of the lower ranks could challenge the single digits with ease thanks to a combination of the three oldest warriors' training program. Even Miria had managed to earn the nickname "Phantom" Miria for her effort in changing her technique to require no yoki at all. As Zelda looked at all the warriors that were in the bar, she realised that it was almost everyone. Even Hysteria was there as well. Poor Tabitha was going to be in a state and a half and when she lifted off her hood, it was to reveal a young woman with her hair braided resting on her right shoulder. She simply reported sighting the warriors,

"There are three warriors in total," Tabitha did her best to report the sighting although everyone knew that Chloey would know anyway, "they were obviously sent from the Organization, we assume that there is one single digit and two lower ranked warriors,"

"I see," Hysteria said calmly, "that is a number of warriors too small to handle one of us,"

"Most likely they are to keep an eye on the north," Chloey spoke from near the fireplace, making all the warriors jump. Chloey hadn't moved and she was still sitting down, as Tabitha belatedly realised, her hair drawn back in to a ponytail and her white wolf sitting calmly with its head on Chloey's knee. Tabitha realised that it was Hilda who had sheathed her blade and not Chloey. It wasn't just Tabitha that was looking at Chloey; all the claymores had their eyes on the "eyes". They all waited for her to speak,

"It seems that they are just here to hunt awakened beings but the number is too low to be an actual team. I doubt that they will be able to hold off any with the yoki that I can sense," Chloey looked around the room and stretched in her chair. She didn't bother to get up,

"It's simple, we meet the team of warriors and we talk to them, they may just want to listen to us, if given the chance," Miria reasoned. The entire room groaned. Trust Miria to think of that they would have loudly said, but stayed quiet while they waited for Miria to continue, "Who knows they might listen,"

The warriors trumped through the snow, having been told to clear out an awakened being. The single digit was pissed off about having to even be in the north at all, and she was considering sticking it to the Organization and deserting, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide for long before the Number 1 and Number 2 caught up to her. What she really needed was to find the warriors who had disappeared seven years ago and join them. It wouldn't matter then about the Number 1 coming after her, as they were said to have three legendary warriors with them, Teresa of the Faint Smile, The Elegant Hysteria and Rafaela. She had heard that they had three "eyes" too, one of whom was a warrior that hadn't been seen since the chaos seven years ago. Nina trembled at the thought of seeing such warriors but the way she saw it, the north was a useless waste land, no one lived in the north since the awakened beings had been there. Not a single person. As Nina guided her team to the town of Dabi, she had a strange feeling that somehow she would wake up in the southern lands again. She would see the pale blue sky and the green fields that she so longed to see again.

Chloey led her team of warriors, following the single digit closely. She was unhappy about being chosen to talk to the warriors, but she would follow through with what she had to do.

_The meeting ended, when Hysteria said calmly, "How about Chloey's team see if the warriors can be spoken to," the small warrior had looked up from near the fire where her large white wolf was resting. Something was off with Kate, and Chloey knew it. Kate for her part said nothing, simply sleeping by the warm fire, dozing contentedly while the meeting was going on, and now that they were finished, Kate had yawned and got up. The wolf had been putting on weight since her last hunting trip that she insisted on going alone for. Chloey's own reaction was one of shock; she was going to ask Hysteria what she was saying when Miria let out a whoop, and rushed back to her mother's house to go get a cloak. Chloey sighed and walked past the bar, with Rafaela giggling a bit as she walked out the door. Tabitha would be annoyed of course, Queenie was half out of the chair by the time Chloey had close the door and Yuma wasn't far behind. Marie had groaned and Veronica was pulling her black cloak around her shoulders. If there was anyone about to protest it was Bella and Leah, as both girls were only children when they had first met the original group of warriors following Hysteria. The two had accepted it as part of what was expected of them, so had been quiet the entire time, not saying anything unless they felt it was needed. Chloey was going to have a long talk with Hysteria when she got back, a very long talk with the weaker warrior._

Chloey's cloak billowed in the wind and she kept her focus on the warriors. They had stopped in Dabi, not a bad start if they were going to hunt an awakened one. Tabitha hated Dabi, more so than Pieta, so it can as no surprise to Chloey that Tabitha's yoki was negative from the start. Chloey looked and waited. It seemed that another warrior was days behind the others. Her yoki was weaker than any Chloey had seen in a long time. It was rare to see a warrior with a weak yoki like this girl's was. Chloey signalled for her team to stop and looked at what she could pick up. The awakened being in the area wasn't alone, it had two others with. Chloey had been worried about the awakened beings of late. They were gathering in numbers, and working together to save themselves, thus making it difficult for the warriors to fight back properly. The girls were going to most likely meet their deaths if Chloey and the others didn't do something. Chloey looked at the coming warrior, the yoma half of her wasn't much, but the Organization had to have a reason to send her north, they just had to.

Nina sighed as she sat and rested. They didn't have much choice but to wait for the next team member to arrive. She sure had a lot of nerve whoever she was. Nina looked at Cassandra and Kirra and hoped that the other warrior would arrive in Dabi soon. Nina wasn't known for her patience, and dealing with that side of Nina's personality was not a good thing. Cassandra played with her flipped over hair, she was the weakest team member at Number 26. She hoped that their arriving team member was a bit stronger than she was, perhaps in the higher double digits than she was. Nina huffed and made no sign of wanting to talk to anyone.

The warrior walked through Pieta, slowly making her way forward. She pulled the brown cloak tighter around herself and shivered. It was colder than she suspected, she had never been in the north and didn't understand why she was sent there in the first place. She was shivering from the cold and she didn't have much yoki to keep her warm. She huffed and puffed as she walked. The north was a cold place and she hated it.

The warriors watched as the warrior with a brown cloak entered Dabi. They were all looking at Chloey to see what she would and were surprised that she hung back. It was clear to the others that she wasn't getting involved. Tabitha looked at her leader and then to Miria. Both of them were waiting for something but they didn't know what. The warriors didn't wait long. No sooner had the new comer arrived then had they stormed out of Dabi. Tabitha watched as Chloey calmly followed the warriors, making no move to reveal herself. The rest of the team followed Chloey's example, moving stealthily and making sure that they were out of sight. Miria ghosted after the warriors, not as far as Tabitha would have liked, but Miria was fast enough to do it that way. Chloey simply took to the higher points above the warriors, jumping swiftly from mound of dirt to mound of dirt. She was surprisingly fast for one so small. Tabitha looked back to where Marie and Queenie were bringing up the rear with Veronica and Yuma. Veronica's face was set with grim determination as she could sense the awakened beings that were going to harm the warriors. Tabitha picked up her pace and was soon behind Miria and Chloey. The others came close as Chloey signalled them to stop. Her small body was tense and Tabitha had never sensed such tension before. Chloey must have seen something that they hadn't. Perhaps she was aware of something that they weren't.

The single digit was on the mountain side below the group of rebels, and most amazingly for Yuma was that they were able to get so close to the single digit and she couldn't sense them. The rest of the warriors were no more than puppets and Yuma felt sorry for them. Chloey must have known that there would be a girl with coloured hair, she also must have sensed out the awakened being that was fighting the warriors. Yuma admired the single digit's hard work. Only to watch it unravel as two more awakened beings appeared,

"We attack now," Chloey whispered, and the small warrior jumped down and rushed forward. It didn't matter if Yuma or the others followed as Chloey could have taken the three on her own. She insisted on feeding the warriors yoki suppressants, "we'll have to leave the coloured haired girl, she'll wake up soon," and lifted the single digit that was almost twice her height. Yuma lifted up the girl with her hair cropped just below her ears.

"Move it!" Chloey hissed suddenly, and the warriors scattered back up the mountain side.

As she came to Clarice realised that she was still alive. She looked around and saw a sea of purple blood; her comrades were nowhere in sight. Clarice began to panic, what if they'd just left her there. She gulped and realised that there was some red blood in among the purple. She froze. Her comrades had all been injured and someone or something had taken them away. Clarice felt fear and ran away from the sea of blood. Whatever had killed the awakened beings was far more powerful then she was. She wasn't going to stay. Not on her own life.

"She fled," said Veronica listlessly, "what do we do, go after her?"

"No," said Chloey, "we return to the others at once."

She carried the single digit without complaint.

By the time they had reached the town were the others were the three warriors were beginning to gain consciousness. Chloey had kept a tight eye on each of them, making sure that they were healing within their yoki limit. The single digit was the first to wake up. Her long hair was down to her hips and her fringe sat over her face and towards her left shoulder. She had received the worst wounds and had given Chloey a hard time trying to heal her. The other two, one with her fringe swept over to the left of her face with her hair worn short might have partly been able to heal better. The girl with cropped hair was still out, but her wounds were worse than the other girl's, so Chloey guessed that she was the next worst damaged.

"I see that you have woken," Chloey made the single digit jump.

"WHO ARE YOU?" the single digit demanded,

"The former Number 2," Chloey said calmly as she walked up to the single digit, "had, I not come with my team when I did, all of you would have been dead,"

"Hey how are the warriors," a young man burst in through the door, his pale blond hair a sign that things were different. Chloey rose from the chair and said calmly, "Could you get Hysteria and Miria please Raki,"

The young man nodded and ran out of the room like he was possessed. The single digit gaped after him and tried to get up. Her body reminded her of her injuries.

"Rest," the small former warrior lightly pushed the single digit in to the bed. The warrior looked at Chloey for a time and said, "You're "The Silent" Chloey aren't you?"

Chloey chucked and returned to her original duty, and checked on the other two warriors, though she nodded for the young warrior's benefit.

"Why did you help my team," the single digit got up again, only to have her wounds scream in agony.

"Rest," Chloey looked the warrior in the eye, and carefully checked on the weaker two.

"The warrior you told him to get, The Elegant Hysteria, isn't it," the warrior was stressing out and Chloey walked up to her,

"Rest," she said, forcing the warrior to lie down.

The warrior noticed it at once, and she tried to fight it, for a small while until she realised that she was out matched by a long shot.

The door opened to reveal Nina's fears. Hysteria was a former Number 1. Nina tried not to draw attention to herself, but the young looking woman that was with Hysteria had come over. Her face had an x shaped scar on her face and a kind eye. Nina felt Hysteria walk up to her and she spoke to her,

"So you're the brave warrior trying to take on three awakened beings at once,"

"No we were only after one," Nina replied, cautious of Hysteria.

"Well, I never to so grossly miss informed tells me that you were simply being gotten rid of as a nuisance warrior,"

Nina flinched, "They wouldn't-"

"They do," said Chloey surprising Nina again, "They would have me executed just for living over long. They hate warriors that live a long time. They much rather have us as puppets, to serve them until we drop dead without a thought about us," The other two warriors were waking up as Chloey continued, "and then once we have served our purpose, they make sure that we're put in to missions that will either kill us or make us awaken. That's what they did to Luciela and that's what they're doing to the Number 1 and her sister,"  
"WHAT!?" the three warriors exclaimed,

"They've already got her replacement lined up, that's how they work," Chloey sighed, "they never change and I feel sorry for the warriors that serve them. If we do go against them we won't take lives, but we will cut them down."

The warriors shivered at what they had heard. Nina, Cassandra and Kirra would have to make a choice. Nina was in shock, the Organization that she had worked so hard for, didn't care about her at all,

"Another thing I think that you should know…the Organization is responsible for the creation of the yoma our broadswords aren't meant to exist and are made for beings much greater than just the awakened ones," Chloey added. For the three it was the final nail in the coffin. Nina wasn't ever going back to them. Not on her life. Nina could see that Kirra and Cassandra both felt the same,

"Then are we safe if we chose to stay with you?" Nina asked,

"You're more than welcome to," said Hysteria calmly, "we want to save as many as we can."

With that the Rebels gained three more warriors on their side. Hysteria was pleased by the results. It was something that really was needed. _Only 44 to go_ she thought, _if we can expose the Organization to the others I'm sure that none will want to stand for them_.


	7. Chapter VII: The Black Twins

"Hey, did you hear the story?" the stocky heavily muscled warrior turned to face her more frail looking comrade. The two of them and a couple of low ranked warriors had just finished off an awakened being hunt. Rachel had some interesting things to tell her comrades, she'd heard a lot of interesting rumours about Nina and her hunting party. Rachel looked to her long haired companion, the Number 3, Audrey,

"What story?" Audrey asked Rachel, her face showed none of her confusion, but it was there.

"Apparently Nina's team went missing," Rachel smirked, "and it's said that a small "eyes" resides in the north now."

"Oh, that," Audrey sighed, "I'm sure that a hunting party will be sent to find them,"

Rachel smirked wider now, "Not a chance Audrey, not when they have Galatea and Rafaela. No one'd be able to find them,"

Nervously the coloured haired warrior stood before the men of the Organization, she had arrived not long ago having run from the north alone. She was sure that she was going to get punished for not completing her duty, but the men were all seated, _so perhaps I'll be safe_ she thought.

"47," the head of the Organization Rimuto sounded surprised, "Why aren't you at your post?"

"I came to report," Clarice shifted nervously, how she was supposed to say that her captain was gone to the wind, and that her comrades had also disappeared.

"Then report 47," a male handler requested.

Clarice started at the beginning.

Hysteria decided to head south with the warriors following her. They moved as one. Chloey sensed out warriors and they would help them out if they needed it. The warriors often spoke with the group, and sometimes Hysteria would cross paths with them again. Usually they were looking for the "Rebels" and would happily cast aside their ties to the Organization. The group had grown, swelling with newer warriors. Dietrich was the first of the new warriors to follow Hysteria stubbornly as she owed a debt to The Elegant. Dietrich and her team were being attacked by Luciela, where a swift attack from Hysteria and Chloey had saved the team from certain death. Rafaela had delivered the finishing blow to her sister, with tears in her eyes. Chloey had helped Rafaela to bury her sister as a human before they moved further south. As the warriors cleared the yoma and awakened beings from the south they ran in to more warriors, all of whom had wanted to see the legendary The Elegant Hysteria. They were low rankers who had simply followed orders as they received them, until they met warriors like them from the older generation. Now that they'd left the north those that were warriors from the Organization wore their old amour sets while Miria, Clare and Raki wore leather clothing that gave them maximum movement. Miria was quite popular among the younger warriors, often she was the one that gave them the courage to leave the Organization. Chloey was strangely seen as someone that could be talked to about things that the warriors felt they couldn't tell anyone else. The younger warriors found her to be quite approachable, and would often be seen talking to her. Hysteria was the warrior that they went to when they wanted to know what they needed to do. Even the single digits would come to Hysteria for "orders" Hysteria told them to follow what they knew and to use their training to help their comrades out.

"Do your best, if you need help, just ask myself, Chloey, Meg, Claire or Rafaela," she told them, "Chloey is the best if you want to further your technique."

Clarice told the men about the awakened being's blood being all over the snow, about the fact that her team mates were gone. She remembered what looked like a small warrior looking at her, a small warrior who wore her long hair up in a high ponytail with no bangs on her face. She looked young though Clarice wasn't sure that she'd seen the warrior, it could very well have been an illusion. Men cleared their throats and said that warriors had been going missing of late. Clarice was told to go and look after the Number 4. As she walked feeling slightly relieved that she wasn't going to be punished by the Organization's men; Clarice tried to sense where the Number 4 was. As she walked up to the door she had a strange feeling. She didn't know why, but she hesitated at the door. Something told her that she didn't want to go in there just yet. However Clarice didn't want to disappoint Rado so she opened the door.

A small warrior with incredibly long hair sat on the ground in the middle of the room. She was whispering to herself and Clarice nervously cleared her throat,

"Uh, I'm the Number 47, Clarice, I was sent to be your assistant…" Clarice took a step forward and the girl suddenly jumped up with inhumane speed, Clarice barely had any time to register that she'd been cut. Only to find herself being slammed on to the ground by the small warrior,

"Did you kill them? My mama and papa," the Number 4 violently demanded,

"N-no I-I…" Clarice barely got her reply out when the Number 4 started ripping apart Clarice's amour, "NO! Please stop!"

Clarice was shaking as the Number 4 began to suckle on her breast, just like a dependant baby, "Mama, Mama," she murmured between sucks.

Clarice lay on her back in a state of shock. She was astounded that the Number 4 was a child. Most likely no more than a baby when she was taken from her real mother. _The Organization's Number 4 is just a child_, Clarice thought to herself, _oh gods, now she thinks that I'm her mother._ The Number 4 suckled, Clarice could feel the slightest of tears on the girl's face running down her small cheeks. Clarice's arms moved and she embraced the young warrior, her own heart knew that she had lost as much as the small child. Clarice realised that this was what Miata needed; she needed a mother, although Clarice wasn't sure that she was ready to be one, or that she was the best sort of mother for the obviously young warrior. She would do the best that she could but it wasn't going to be good enough to Miata.

Chloey stopped in her tracks. The young warrior had what she needed at last, she wouldn't be able to match the older warriors, but there was someone there to at least lower the girl's instability. Chloey got up and moved slowly away from the camp. There were a lot of warriors now. They had 47 warriors, including Clare, Miria and Raki. Chloey knew that if they spoke to the older warrior the young one that she felt would certainly follow along. Chloey walked up the mountain path, aware that there were two younger warriors that had been tailing the group. She wasn't sure if they were the new Number 1 and 2, or if they were the replacements for the Number 1 and 2. Chloey's amour clanked as she walked, her mind focusing on what she could sense. She was about half way up the mountains when the warriors attacked her. They wore black amour, their hair was long with v shaped fringes. Chloey knew at once who they were,

"So you are the Dark twins, Alicia and Beth," Chloey rose her head as she regarded the human formed Alicia, "you don't fool me, I know what you can do,"

"Who are you?" Dark Alicia demanded in her flat monotone voice,

"I am the former Number 2, The Silent Chloey," Chloey spoke softly; "I was a warrior well before you were born. You have no hope in matching blades with me child,"

Chloey forced Alicia to a complete standstill, "And even if your sister were to attack me, she wouldn't win."

Dark Beth attacked Chloey without hesitation. Chloey blocked the strike and continued to hold Alicia at bay. Beth looked to her sister, but Alicia's yoki flow was stopped completely, "I told you children that you can't match blades with me,"

Beth froze and Alicia struggled to make a gesture. Chloey let Alicia go,

"We have much to learn from you, we want our freedom," Alicia for the first time felt her own mind aside from Beth's. Both of them were afraid that the small warrior could so easily match them. Alicia wanted to save Beth, and Beth had wanted to save Alicia. Alicia was sick of having to do as the men commanded, sick of having only Beth, despite how close they were, Alicia knew that she and Beth had to play dead. They had to act like they were obedient dolls and nothing more. Alicia wanted to rip the men apart for what they'd done to her and her sister. Alicia had hated the fact that Beth took so much pressure on her mind when Alicia awakened. Beth was often panting after their training sessions. Alicia had really felt for her sister, and she felt guilty about it. She offered once to bare Beth's burden and Beth had looked horrified,

"_No, Alicia my duty is to bare your human mind!" Beth had screamed shrilly when the men were well out of earshot of the two warriors, Alicia having chosen the time carefully to talk to her twin "I won't stand for you having bare such pain!"_

"_I'm sick of watching you suffer," Alicia had reasoned, "I know it hurts you Beth, please!"_

"_NO! Alicia you know I can't. Not just as your sister, but as your comrade."_

So Alicia had bowed to Beth's wishes reluctantly, only wanting to spare Beth from more pain. She'd seen the small warrior, heard the rumours, and seen the archives. The Silent Chloey was a warrior that was a yoki manipulator like Galatea had been. It was clear to Alicia that Chloey was far beyond Galatea; she forced her opponents to her will, it had only been when Alicia was close enough to see the small warrior, and then the words that she spoke, sure, soft and kind. Nothing like the course foul language that their handlers used. Alicia remembered the bruises that Beth had; she too had been beaten mercilessly at times. She was slammed to be obedient to the men. She had been forced to be nothing more than a puppet. She'd lied to her handlers so that Beth would have a small reprieve from their training. She didn't know that her comrades would be sent to their deaths. She'd felt so ashamed that she tried to hide it from Beth. Beth had known because they couldn't hide anything from one another. Alicia knew that Beth hadn't wanted to let Alicia experience the pain and exhaustion that she'd felt. She knew that Alicia felt horrible, they hadn't wanted that life. They had been taken from their mother and father before they could even remember them. They had grown under the Organization, to be half yoma. And yet the small warrior had known them by name, she even knew what Alicia and Beth could do. Alicia was surprised by the fact that Chloey even knew their names.

"We have wanted to get away for so long," Alicia said, "please, don't make us go back,"

Chloey looked at the two warriors in black before her, "Then come," she said, "I believe that now is as good a time as any for you to be freed,"

Hysteria had felt the two warriors coming. She went to grab her sword when Chloey entered the clearing where the warriors were camping. Hysteria came over to the small warrior,

"Who…?" she begun, as two warriors in black amour came forward, stopping behind Chloey, both were like a pair of dolls. They weren't like anything that Hysteria had ever seen, their long blond hair was down to their waists and their fringes were v shaped.

"I am the Number 1 of the Organization, generation number 78, Dark Alicia," the warrior to Chloey's left spoke, her voice a monotone, simply informing the assembled warriors of the facts, "my sister Beth, is the Number 2,"

Several warriors gaped at the twins, indeed they seemed to be afraid of them. Miria walked up to the two no fear on her face, no fear in her yoki. She knew that it was safe to come near the warriors, that she wasn't going to get hurt. Chloey wouldn't have brought them here otherwise. Miria didn't understand why the others couldn't trust Chloey's judgement about the two warriors. Indeed Miria had felt through Alicia's façade she knew what Chloey had most likely known.

"I know that you're both different. You don't need to talk like that, talk the way you want," Miria spoke, and Alicia gaped, her trained façade dropped, just like Miria thought it would, "You are a person like the rest of us. Both of you are more than welcome here."

Beth started to cry. Alicia cried harder than her sister, tears flowing down her face. No one except Beth had ever seen her as another person. Or now that she thought about it, Chloey hadn't talked to them like they were a pair of monsters either,

"We're grateful to your kindness," Alicia rubbed her tears away furiously. Beth continued to cry, sobbing softly and was shocked when Miria hugged her. Even Alicia hadn't expected such a kind gesture. Beth cried for real now, and Miria comforted her softly.

About a week after Alicia and Beth had joined "Hysteria's Rebels" as Alicia put it, the two steadily came out of their cold training shells. Beth was a sweet girl once the others got to know her. Alicia was hot headed and always prepared to stand up for those she cared about. Beth was the balm to her sister, the warrior whose duty it was to control Alicia's awakened body. They were surprised by how kind the smallest warrior, Chloey was. She neither judged, nor did she put her comrades down. Hysteria was Alicia's idea of a Number 1, so too was Teresa. Alicia found herself actually learning how to use her blade rather than her awakened body to fight. She soon discovered that her skills were far below the degree required of a Number 1. It was Beth that was better at the sword fighting. Alicia was determined to catch up to Beth. She asked Chloey to teach her how to fight properly as a warrior should. Chloey had worked solidly not just on Alicia, but all the young warriors that didn't feel confident in their sword fighting abilities. Alicia revealed that all they'd done since they were children were to learn how to fight with Alicia as an awakened being. When the others heard that they were appalled and all decided to take down the Organization with renewed determination.

The journey continued on as Hysteria moved the warriors to track the movement of yoma. The numbers of warriors fleeing the Organization was growing. It was to the point where the half yoma had to stay out of the towns, but even the clearings weren't big enough to keep all the warriors. Hysteria had considered shifting them in to smaller groups, but it wasn't a good idea, she heard from Chloey that now was the time to strike the Organization. They would be crippled without the warriors. Hysteria decided to wait it out a bit more. Warriors looked to her and not Rafaela which didn't worry Hysteria, but what did worry her was that Rafaela followed her lead as well. Chloey was a free wing, and most warriors obeyed Chloey instinctively knowing that she was more powerful than Rafaela and Hysteria. Chloey still followed Hysteria's orders though, and despite what Hysteria thought about that small warrior, she found Chloey to be the sort that didn't want to lead. She was happier to follow a comrade and advise them on what she felt was right. She didn't push the others to follow her when she went off to the quiet to pray, nor did she force her beliefs on to others. Chloey prayed a lot. It was a wonder that the small warrior still held her beliefs in the God of Rabona. Hysteria decided to sit and listen to the small warrior when she prayed. It was the only way that the younger warrior would make sense of the small one.

When Chloey went off to pray she wasn't the only "eyes" to head off. Galatea wanted to find out what Chloey prayed for, and was rather curious as to why Chloey prayed at all. The small warrior had dumped her amour and sat calmly on her knees. She murmured a soft prayer for all of her comrades. Galatea was surprised that Chloey prayed for them all and was oddly touched. Chloey prayed for all of them, she cared deeply for all of the comrades that had come and was hoping that more would come. Galatea quietly lowered herself next to the small warrior. She wondered if the God of Rabona would hear the prayers of the half yoma like her. Chloey prayed, but for Galatea it wasn't easy. She didn't know what to pray for. She didn't know what was right.

"My, my, you have tamed her quite well, what did you do?" Rimuto asked in surprise, it was the first time that he'd seen Miata remotely controlled. She was holding Number 47's hand like there wasn't a problem.

"Uhm…ah…noth…nothing special…" Clarice blushed a brilliant shade of red; Miata hugged Clarice around the middle. She murmured too low for the men to catch, but Clarice heard it. "Mama," It was the word that had changed Clarice's life. She was now Miata's surrogate mother.

"Very well then," said Rimuto, he didn't care about the details. If 47 had tamed the little monster it was all good and well. "We'll be giving you a new task, now that you've tamed her. your orders are to execute the former Number 3 Galatea."

Clarice choked, "I can't do that…"

"It's not a question of whether you can or can't just take Miata and do the job that is assigned to you."

Clarice shook annoyed, she knew that Galatea would be an experience warrior and would beat Miata in a fight. Clarice shut her mouth, and gently pried Miata's hands apart so that she could hold one of them. She walked out of the main reporting room and Miata followed her like a child. Clarice waited for Rado. He arrived and told her what she needed to do. She was sicked that she even had to partake in something that on the surface seemed right, but was wrong underneath. She didn't want Miata getting hurt. She felt oddly protective of Miata and had felt strangely close to her. she listened to what Rado was saying.

"Special power?" she asked unsure of what she'd just heard.

"Well, it is the essential ability of all creatures. Hearing, smell, taste, touch and vision. She uses these without conscious thinking and fights on instinct," Rado paused, "from those highly tuned senses comes yet another sense, the ability of intuition, though this is a vague term to describe what Miata has done. You are to make sure that she takes the yoki suppressants while on the job as Galatea specializes in distance perception, so it's important that she focuses on her task."

Clarice received the suppressants from Rado and vowed that she was going to make sure that if she ever did meet Galatea that she would find out what it was that made her leave the Organization in the first place.

Chloey had felt the small warrior and her weaker companion leave Sutafu. She told Hysteria that the older of the two was unhappy about the task that they'd been assigned. Hysteria listened to Chloey as she could sense to greater distances and was particularly useful in sensing suppressed yokis, something that Galatea could never do, no matter how hard she tried. Chloey was a valuable asset. It was small wonder that the Organization had kept Chloey so close to them. It made sense that they would keep Chloey as close as they had, her superior yoki reading abilities coupled with her almost anti warrior technique would have made her a Number 1 without question. It was Chloey that made the Organization go around. Truly Chloey was a skilled warrior. She was teaching the warriors that were with her how to conceal their presence, not just their yoki, but their half yoma scent. It was amazing that even Rafaela didn't have the skills that Chloey had. And she'd been hiding for years since Luciela had awakened. Although the Organization had taken care of hiding traces of her Hysteria had realised, by assigning Chloey to the area that Rafaela was hiding, so that their comrades were less likely to discover her. it was a cunning ploy and one that had worked up until Chloey had left them hanging. Truly the Organization had made sure to hide the warriors that they needed to use in the future, but Rafaela was a special case as Hysteria soon found out. It was a good thing that they had Chloey to help guard them, she allowed a greater security than Galatea, but everyone knew that Chloey and Galatea were the distance warriors. There was another girl who'd recently arrived. Renée, she was called. It was amazing that she too could sense over distance. They had four "eyes" to out sense the Organization. They also had Alicia and Beth, if needed their abilities would come in handy. But Hysteria wanted to go to Rabona because she could sense an awakened being trying to hide in the city. She spoke at length with Chloey and the other captains. They all agreed to go to the holy city. Hysteria knew what had to be done.

Clarice and Miata covered a fair amount of ground, indeed Clarice was surprised that Miata could travel so easily, but then she was forced to remind herself that Miata was the Number 4 after all. She had decided a coup, if that was even possible. She was going to take Miata and run, she was aware that there were a lot of her comrades that had escaped the Organization and she was going to do the same. There hadn't been punishments to the other warriors. However there was the simple problem of the Number 1 and Number 2 that Clarice didn't like. She didn't know what to do. She then decided to find Galatea, just find her, not kill her. with this in mind Miata set their course. Clarice fed her the suppressants and allowed Miata to suckle from her. Clarice noticed that her body seemed to be responding to Miata's suckling and was producing milk. She was a bit surprised, but she decided that at least her body was capable of such change.

Miria stretched and yawned loudly. Alicia was sure lots of fun, when she wasn't in "warrior" mode. Beth was softly spoken, like Chloey and everyone knew that Alicia was the talker of the two; Beth had shocked the others when she'd asked for a haircut like Helen's. she said that she'd wanted it short and would like to at least look different from her sister a little bit. It was Clare that walked up to Beth, "If you're sure about it,"

"I want this," said Beth,

"You won't be able to change her mind," said Alicia sadly, "when she wants something, she will have it,"

And so Beth got her long hair cut short, she looked quite different from Alicia, but she couldn't look overly different no matter how hard she tried. She was happy with the haircut and rather calmly said, "Thank you, it feels nice,"

Chloey tensed up suddenly as she felt the presence of another warrior. She had felt them following for some time.

"Two young ones are heading this way. They seek you Galatea," Chloey spoke softly. Alicia tensed and Beth looked worried,

"They mean no harm; they are a day behind us."

Clarice had been dragged through a few yoma fights and was beginning to wonder when the fighting was going to end. Miata was resting after she'd suckled from Clarice. Her eyes were closed and Clarice was relaxed and calm. Her breasts felt light, and she was starting to get used to it. she hoped that they would find Galatea soon. It was beginning to seem like they'd never find her. Clarice lay next to Miata and closed her eyes.

Hysteria woke to a new day. They were two days from Rabona and it was decided that they would press on to the city. She had warned them that Rabona was in name holding a ban against the half yoma; that they would need to work inconspicuously as possible in order to save lives if they could. She told them that they were to make sure that they were quiet and respectful towards the guards of Rabona,

"They will be able to help us, we only need to ask politely if we need anything," Hysteria explained that the Rabonians would have missed the presence of the half yoma when she'd left the city. She impressed that they had to work undercover. It was for the best.


	8. Chapter VIII: The Fall

The large group of warriors travelled towards Rabona, nearly all of them wearing cloaks. Hysteria was in front leading the warriors forward as their dark cloaks flapped in the soft breeze. Miria stayed behind Chloey, both excited and curious to see how Rabona was since she'd left almost 14 years ago. Many of the other so called Claymores were also curious, and where wondering how they were going to enter the city. Hysteria had easily felt the presence of a familiar awakened being and Chloey had decided that she was going to do something a little different. She told Hysteria what she wanted to do. They would use Galatea as bait to draw out the two warriors that had been following her. If possible they would allow the warriors to engage Agatha with Galatea; if not then they would step in as needed to control the situation. Galatea sighed and said rather calmly, "I wonder why they'd be after me who destroyed her own eyes?"

"Because the Organization is after you," said Teresa, "Heck they know it's not a good idea to come after me but they still will. I think that they are going to be in for a shock when they find out that it's not just me, but a few others that have turned against them. What's wrong with us all taking down Agatha Chloey?"

"Very well, we all go," Chloey said,

"We need to hurry before someone gets killed," said Hysteria, "I won't let Agatha kill another person!"

Chloey walked calmly towards the gates of Rabona, she could sense that Agatha was making her move. She guided her team in to position and waited for Hysteria's signal. Miria was resting beside Alicia and Beth was simply closing her eyes. Chloey had decided that it was up to Alicia and Beth to decide what they wanted to do. Alicia had her sword drawn and Chloey could sense that Alicia intended to remain human for the entire fight. Miria held her blade tightly and waited for the signal. The other warriors had Agatha surrounded, she was as good as dead if any of the teams had a go at her. Except the younger warriors, but they were to support the older more experienced teams of warriors. Chloey focused on what she had to do. There was a time and a place for the warriors' movements and now she had to keep her team still. Alicia and Beth both looked to Chloey and Hysteria. It was strange that the twins had taken a liking to Chloey over the other warriors, but The Silent didn't complain, she just got on with the job at hand.

Agatha wondered what was going on. She had a strange feeling that she was about to be killed and she couldn't sense any warriors in the area. She'd spent a few years holding back and now she wanted to have fun. She'd even exposed her awakened form just for the hell of it knowing that the humans weren't strong enough to take her and now…she paused as a warrior jumped on to her body. She wore her hair long, down to her waist and her eyes were two scared over white orbs,

"Really you are quite annoying; I guess that even though I tried to match "The Silent" in yoki reading, I will acknowledge that she is the best. However we will not let you kill any more people. Your life ends now,"

"Oh, and just what are you talking about?" asked Agatha,

"You should know by now," Queenie jumped down and cut through one of Agatha's appendages, while Miria, Marie, Veronica, Tabitha focused on her legs. Chloey blasted through Agatha's awakened body and Hysteria rushed forwards and hacked Agatha apart.

The Rabonians were relieved to see Hysteria and Miria again; indeed, it was the guard that were the first to meet all the claymores. They were all promptly taken to the cathedral, where Hysteria spoke with Father Vincent, the new priest in charge of Rabona. She had Rafaela and Miria with her. Chloey and the others all waited with two of the young guards, Cid and Galk. Both tried to make a pass at Chloey, but she turned them down by getting to her feet,

"Forgive me, but I have something that needs to be taken care of outside," she left the warriors with the two humans and walked out, raising the hood on the cloak that she'd brought with her. She was better hidden than what Hysteria had been. None of the humans knew that there was a claymore among them. Chloey walked until she came to the centre of Rabona. There was a tall hooded man standing casually by the fountain. He kept his hood up, and Chloey knew who it was,

"Care to explain why you're here, Christopher?" she asked,

"Like I said, I want to do this properly, so can we take this somewhere else, please?" Christopher requested, "I was brought up to do it properly Miss Chloey,"

"As you wish," Chloey sighed, her amour clanked as she followed him. He jumped up on to the roof tops and she kept up easily. It was strange that he insisted on being alone with her this time. Chloey hadn't told the others about Christopher and she certainly didn't need the questions that they would have about him.

The older warrior came to a stop on the cathedral roof. It looked like a good enough place. He carefully pulled the delicate box from within his waist pouch. He had to be careful; despite the length of time that he'd known Chloey she was still as shy as she had been when she met him. He wanted to keep her safe, but the small warrior was not even hearing it. She was a difficult warrior at times, but he truly cared deeply for her, enough that he wanted to be by her side for as long as he was human. He heard the faintest of clinks of amour and he turned to face the warrior known for her silence. His hood was off revealing his face. He looked at the young woman who took his heart the moment that they first met. She hadn't changed in all those years, her long blond hair was the only thing that showed the time. When she was younger she had two bangs that had now grown in to the rest of her long hair so that her face was framed on either side, making it look long and thin, which it was naturally. Her silver eyes were wider than most warriors, as she was very young when she was made a warrior; her eye lashes were long and beautiful. She had a small mole, just above the left corner of her mouth that disappeared when she smiled wide enough, though she rarely smiled that wide. He waited for her to walk forward. She lowered her own hood and the sun light played off her light blond hair, so that it shone a pale gold with the faintest traces of pure white. As Chloey looked at him, Christopher held her left hand. It was a lady's hand, small and delicate. The ring would suit her, he thought, and he got down to his knee, so that he was for a small while smaller than Chloey was,

"Lady Chloey deLupia, will you marry me?" he asked her.

Chloey's silver eyes when wider than he'd ever seen, then she started to cry and he was tempted to get up when she replied, "How can you say that!"

He looked at her startled,

"How could I say no, when you stole my heart!" Chloey smiled, still crying, Chris stood up and held her close once the ring was gently placed on Chloey's bare right ring finger. He gently tipped the small woman's face and kissed her. She trembled, but she kissed him back. His arms moved down to her waist and he pulled her closer to him. She was still crying softly.

Hysteria and the rest of the warriors went looking for Chloey, they had no idea what had just happened. Father Vincent was rather surprised when a very familiar cloak appeared near the cathedral.

"Christopher!" he called out,

"Ah, just the man I wanted to see," a distinctly male voice replied. Then he lifted off his hood to reveal none other than a male half yoma warrior, "I'm glad to see that you're doing well old friend,"

"As I am to see you," Father Vincent smiled, "please do come in,"

"Don't mind if I do," smiled the old male warrior, "besides you'll have your hands full soon any way, if Chloey agrees to the idea any way."

"What?!" several warriors exclaimed in shock as Chloey sighed, "Must you do that to me,"

Then the realisation sunk in. At first it was hard to tell what was louder, Cid's cry of despair of the Claymore's screams of joy.

After everyone had finally calmed down it was decided that the warriors would attack the Organization. Chloey said rather calmly they would have to work out a good plan of attack, and the warriors were curious when some Rabonian blacksmiths came in.

"We figured that it would help for you to have some of the best protection possible," said one of the blacksmiths, he was tall and wore his dark hair short, "so we would like to give you all proper amour as thanks,"

"Oh please," said Hysteria, "what we did was to help you from our own good will. However if you are sure about this, then we would like the amour that gives us maximum movement,"

"Of course Lady deClamont," said the blacksmith, "we shall do that for all of you,"

The blacksmiths made sure to make the amour as light and strong as possible. It was Galatea that explained that they would have to make the amour stronger than the Organization's as the warriors usually broke their amour a surprising amount of times. Alicia and Beth both were worried, Alicia pointing out that her amour was designed for one purpose, and one purpose,

"It stays together despite how many times I've used my yoki out right; I'd feel better knowing that Beth has more physical protection than what I do. I can defend myself easier than she can," Alicia told them, "I turn in to a yoma to fight at times,"

"As I can too," Miria spoke up, much to the shock of the other claymores, "I do it on my own though, and it doesn't feel like anything," she added, "there's no pain or pleasure in releasing that much yoki for me,"

Chloey nodded as she knew better than anyone else what Miria could do when she wanted to do it. Beth was amazed and Alicia was just as shocked. The humans of Rabona busied themselves fitting new amour to the claymores. Alicia was surprised when they brought out a set of amour. The shoulders were similar to the Organization's design, except that Beth would have protection around her neck. Beth's new amour consisted of plates that protected her stomach, her arms and most importantly her neck and head. She looked quite comfortable and nothing pinched her. Alicia watched as her comrades were fitted out with amour. At Chloey's request, they kept her amour as light as possible on the former "eyes" right arm. She kept her arm guard on her right arm and simply allowed the Rabonians to shape new shoulder amour on to her shoulders. Clare stood as still as she dared as the men fit her out with sturdy amour. Miria was a little difficult to fit as she wasn't used to wearing amour. It took the blacksmiths an hour to make her amour suit her without pinching or rubbing. In the end it was decided that Miria should wear lamb skins underneath her amour to combat the rubbing. Once the warriors were all fitted out in new amour they then rested in Rabona.

Hysteria had to get used to the fact that Chloey was actually getting married. Even Rafaela had a hard time adjusting to it. Chloey and Chris were often seen having minor disputes over what was to happen where. Chloey had decided to wait until the Organization was taken down. Chris had relented and the wedding was put on hold, at least for a while. He still wanted a proper wedding with Chloey though. It was hard to see Chloey standing in front of her comrades and saying the most important words that she needed to say.

The warriors prepared for a tight run, because according to what they worked out it was three single digits and two lower ranked warriors. That wasn't including the trainees at the Organization's disposal and their new weapons that they could very well use against the rebellion. It was the worst news that could have been said. The warriors all discussed on what was the best course of action. Hysteria had no idea that Chloey, Miria, Clare and Hilda were all heading straight to Sutafu. Alicia and Beth were with them as well as Christopher and Raki. she had worked out the strength of the warriors at Sutafu, and was sure that a small group was all that was needed to take on the Organization. There were enough yoma to keep the others busy in her mind. She heard the clanking of amour and turned to see none other than Tabitha run towards them. Veronica and Cynthia were also there.

"We can't just let you go one without us," said Veronica, "Hysteria is busy with the other captains, so we're coming with you,"

Chloey sighed and shook her head, "If you must, then so be it,"

Veronica pulled at her pony tail, something she did when she really wanted to, but couldn't say it. Cynthia looked at Chloey with a look of honesty,

"The odds are in our favour aren't they?" Cynthia asked,

"Not now, but soon," said Chris, "we'll know as soon as we get there what's going to happen."

"Right," said Veronica.

The odd team covered more ground as a small group than with all the other warriors moving along with them. It was clear that Chloey had a plan. She wanted to make sure that they took care of the men without the other warriors to interfere with her own personal revenge. She knew that something wrong was going on at Sutafu, she could feel it. she pushed a hard pace, making sure that she kept walking. Three days of solid walking was enough for Miria. The poor girl was doubled over the need to sleep doing her in. Chloey stopped for the ones that needed to sleep. so far they had about a week's journey to the border of Toulouse before they made it to the east. Chloey rested with her back on her sword and focused on keeping herself alert for any sign of danger. Clare was snoring faintly and Chris was sitting opposite her. it felt odd to her to actually be engaged. She never saw herself as a wife, though she had wanted children, more or less adopting them to give them a better life than what she'd had. She sighed and shook her head. Things were going to change once the Organization was gone. She knew it.

_The nights were long as many warriors sat in the snow. They all wondered what it was that Hysteria was saying, it was clear that Miria wasn't like any other warrior that had ever existed in the entire continent. They were still standing in shock as Hysteria had told them the past. She didn't shy away from what had happened. She told the entire story. She told them how Rigaldo had raped her, how Miria was born, how she escaped from the Organization. It was a night for stories,_

"_So then, how'd Orsay die?" Claudia asked, "We don't know a handler by that name and we heard the men say that he got killed, though what by they don't know,"_

"_Because I killed the son of a bitch," every one turned in shock as Chloey stood up, "I killed that son of a bitch for what he did, the warriors he had killed."_

"_WHAT?!" the warriors all cried out_

"_I shall tell you the story then," said Chloey, "you'll see what I mean soon enough…"_

Miria stretched and busied herself getting ready for the next chunk of travelling. As she woke the others were waking up or putting on their amour. Chloey was up, amour on and her sword sheathed. She had been ready for a while by the looks of it, though Miria wondered what Chloey was all up and about for. Miria had her sword on her back and once the others were up, the group continued their hectic pace. Chloey led and the others followed as swiftly as they could. Miria was sure that they'd covered many leagues and she didn't know who far out they were from Rabona. She knew that her mother was going to be worried about what they were doing but it was something that Miria had to get used to as she got older. She had noticed that Chloey and Chris seemed to be closer than what she'd observed in Rabona, but Miria decided that it was because they were engaged and getting married soon. Chris was different from Chloey. Where Chloey took everything seriously, Chris was willing to make a joke or two to help encourage the younger warriors and Miria. He had no issue with Miria's father being an awakened being, indeed he told Miria what her father was like as a warrior ("He was a pain, but a damn good captain sometimes. He did fight with Isley a lot, though between him and Dauf there were the more serious fights. I used to think those two were on something. It didn't help that Eric was up them all the time either. Chronos wasn't too bad, but we could have done without him you know…") until Chloey made an annoyed noise and Chris laughed. Chloey sighed and the journey continued in earnest.

They were about half way towards Sutafu when Chloey sensed something that was wrong. She then lifted the pace up to a hard sprint.

In the depths of Sutafu Dae was on to one of his experiments. He was excited as to how it was turning out. With a bit of luck, Priscilla would cause the chaos that she was meant to cause. He'd been trembling for a while and now it was close, he was going to create the most unstoppable being. Her power was enough to rival Teresa, and he wanted to be sure that she was good to go. He had been waiting on Rimuto to give him the go ahead for this project. He was looking forward to seeing what the effects would be. He knew that she would most likely awaken, her mind wouldn't be stable enough to work for them for a long time. She would be a good stalling piece though if they ever needed it. as he set to work, he thought he heard someone enter. A quick look revealed that no one was there. No matter, he would do what he could at least.

Miria and the warriors moved swiftly. They were entering the place that Miria had heard caused countless unnamed woman and girls nothing but pain and suffering. She followed Chloey as closely as she could, she didn't know her way through the desolate wastelands of the east. She was glad that Chloey was leading them. It made it easier for her at any rate to learn what her mother had to learn before her. Miria moved forwards as fast as she dared to keep up with Chloey and Chris. It was clear that Chloey and Chris both knew the way really well. They arrived as the men were moving about. Chloey didn't hesitate and killed the men in black clothing. Miria supported Chloey as well as she could, killing men in black. Clare humped in and soon they were busily killing the men in black. Six warriors all moved to stop them and Miria cut all three down. The warriors were followed by two small trainees. One of them awakened and Chloey was forced to attempt to cut down the unawakened twin. As she cut the girl down the other one rushed forward to avenge her sister. Chloey neatly cut down that child as well. In desperation the men sent out another warrior. She was cut down as well. Chloey went to move forwards when a short haired warrior appeared out of nowhere. Chloey grit her teeth and blocked the warrior's strokes. Chris jumped in to support Chloey,

"Hey Miria, go on ahead, Chloey and I will hold this one back!" Chris called out.

Both Chris and Chloey had never had a battle like it. the warrior was fighting them both quite well, even though she didn't seem to have much in the way of fighting skill. Chris struck her and managed to cut her arm, what happened next was shocking, her arm healed fine, but it was as if she lost control of her yoki. She raised it up and up. Chloey cried out and then she turned in to a large one horned creature. Chris had jumped away from her as Chloey tried to force her yoki back. The awakened being continued the fight.

"Damn, she's too strong Chloey!" Chris called,

He watched as Chloey's expression went from calm to livid.

"That son of a bitch," she hissed, "that son of a bitch, I will make him pay!"

Her eyes went gold, her yoki was larger than the one horned beast's was. Chris froze for a second, then raised his own yoki to change his eyes. He charged forward and used the sword technique that gave him his nickname. He didn't need resistance to make his sword cut through the awakened beings, he only needed it in his arm, but it always changed his eyes. Chloey's sword flashed through as his slashed. They killed the one horned beast as a team. It was just in time as well. They both ran to the younger warriors. Ermita was lying dead on the floor, Hilda claiming the credit for killing him. Clare had just killed Rubel herself. Chloey turned as Miria walked in to the main reporting room, Rimuto's head in her hand,

"I found him underground and decapitated him," she told the others. What Miria didn't tell them was that she'd seen strange creatures with him and had found out how half-yoma were made. She decided that she would save it for another day when things weren't so worrying.

The warriors outside were coming to. As they woke up it was clear to them that they were still alive, injured but alive. Audrey looked around her as two small trainees got up. She called what warriors were left together and they entered the buildings of Sutafu. She came across the renegade group of warriors. She realised that the men were all dead. The spiky haired one was holding Rimuto's head. Audrey felt free for the first time in her life. She wondered what was going to happen now that they were free, was there a new life for them, she wondered. She looked at the others and their faces all shared her same concerns.


	9. Chapter IX: The New Era

With the fall of the Organization came a new era, one that began in uncertainty. Though Chloey and Chris had effectively ended the Organization there were still many trails to face the Claymores in the time after the end of the Organization. Hysteria and the other warriors had all raced to Sutafu only to find that much had changed in a short space of time. Those that were loyal to the Organization denounced them and joined forces with Hysteria. Power was the inevitable result. Hysteria led her comrades to victory after victory. It wasn't long until the awakened beings were wiped out. Indeed it was barely four months since the Organization fell. The last of the awakened beings Chronos, had been difficult and without Chloey's sharp perception and manipulation abilities several warriors would have gotten hurt. It was soon clear that the humans still didn't trust the claymores as much as what Hysteria would have hoped. True the humans would be willing to travel under the protection of a claymore guard, but they would try to haggle the price or work around what they wanted. Bandits saw it as a good opportunity; they hassled all the humans and tried to rise up in to power by force. Hysteria travelled around the island trying to work out a way to prevent the steadily horrible events that had unfolded. It wasn't to last for long however. The shift of power was changing. Each of the cities made their own laws and made things difficult for travellers. Hysteria travelled with merchants in an effort to keep out of trouble. If fact most of the half yoma travelled around frequently.

In two years after the fall of the Organization, all of the half yoma headed north again. It was clear to Hysteria that north was the best place to be while the humans sorted themselves out.

The trip to Alphonse was refreshing; Chloey and Chris lead the way, oddly closer than what they had been before. Hysteria was trying to isolate the change in the couple, but she couldn't work out what it was. It seemed that the two of them were being rather secretive about their relationship, as they had been from the beginning she supposed. Even the other half yoma noticed the change between the two. Hysteria had other things to worry about though, and as they travelled she somehow managed to become the undisputed leader of the half yoma. Hysteria wondered why the others turned to her for the leadership when Teresa was strong, Rafaela, Chris and Chloey were older, but it was Hysteria that was the leader, not any of the other warriors. It grated on her nerves that she was chosen to lead her comrades, though she had tried to explain that Rafaela would have made a better leader, but then Rafaela said, "That much is true, but you have been the one that has led many warriors to their freedom so they trust you," and no one wanted to argue with that. Hysteria had eventually relented and now they were all in Alphonse. As they guessed there weren't any humans in the north, so they had the whole northern point to themselves. Hysteria established a town to call the capital of Alphonse and it wasn't long before the warriors set up some crucial things. Chloey and Chris were quick to make their new home not far from Hysteria's chosen house and Rafaela had a couple of cute young half yoma men sweet on her, though she didn't do anything to give them any hint of how she felt for them. It was clear that the seven years that they'd spent cut off soon returned and everyone soon reassumed their different chosen roles within the new Pieta. Hysteria was the leader of the newly formed Claymore Order (so named by the humans at least as the rumours flew around the island about the half yoma taking the north), one that the humans wouldn't come near as far as they knew. It was expected that the humans would leave the half yoma alone and it was pretty much the way things were for a couple of years, during which time Chloey and Chris got married and Chris took on Chloey's family's name.

It was during this time that the humans themselves moved around. Now with there being no more claymores it was clear that the humans that could win over the powerful half-yoma would be seen as the rulers of the land. There were many ambitious men that tried to side with the claymore warriors. It was clear that the claymores weren't going to interfere with the way the humans were running the island. Until a brave young Rabonian man decided to reveal just how degraded the humans were.

Hysteria had been resting in her house. She had a meeting with several of the other warriors prior to the young man's arrival. She was exhausted and Miria wasn't home yet, she was out training with Chloey, something that Miria was rather fond of doing of late, and Hilda was often with her, despite the fact that Chloey was soon going to have a child of her own. Clare mostly stayed with Raki, and Hysteria didn't know where they were, though she was sure that Teresa would sort the two out. Hysteria reclined on the couch and sat the book next to her on the floor. She had been reading again and she knew that this particular day was the best sort of day to read, not to train like Miria was. The wind was whipping up from further north, deep within Alphonse. The flames crackled pleasantly and Hysteria certainly hadn't been expecting him. She heard the knock on the door and rose gracefully, she tugged the dress that she was wearing in to order and cautiously answered the door. The human at the door wore a large thick cloak, and he was shivering with cold. Hysteria let him in to the house and guided him in to her study. When he took the cloak off it was clear that he was from Rabona. He wore the distinctive clothing of a wing-guard.

"To what do I owe such a surprise?" Hysteria asked the human,

"I was told to deliver this to the Lady deClamont," he shivered in place, not out of fear but out of cold,

Hysteria gently took the letter from the young man and proceeded to read it and it said,

"_Dear Lady deClamont,_

_I trust that this letter reaches you in time as the situation in Rabona is dire. Some bandit warlord from the south has been steadily claiming land that does not belong to him, but is your's by blood. I am sorry that I cannot speak with you in person to explain this to you, but it would be wisest to put this warlord down before he attacks you all in Alphonse._

_We had hoped to at least meet with you before he tried to lay siege to Rabona, but we are afraid that we must beg for you all to help us. None of the other cities have thus far been able to stop him, we beg you to help us in this plight,_

_Father Vincent_"

Hysteria's eyes narrowed dangerously as she read the letter fully twice,

"Tell me, boy how long have you travelled for?" she asked the human,

"Two weeks, with the words that I should hurry to complete my task," he replied, his teeth chattering.

Hysteria rang the large bell that she rarely rung save for the rare occasions that everyone needed to be gathered. The response was far better than any Organization gathering of warriors. Chloey, Miria, Hilda, Clare and Raki all arrived not long after the bell had been rung, while Teresa and Irene were both equal last having run the entire way towards the house. The young man seemed to have thawed out in the warmth of Hysteria's study. His skin was a better colour and he wasn't shivering anywhere near as much as before. The half yoma were all neatly packed in to Hysteria's reception hall. After much noise they soon became quiet and ready to listen to what Hysteria had to tell them. She took her position at the main stand within the hall and drew a deep breath,

"It seems that a request for help has come from Rabona to help overthrow a warlord that has been causing much of the trouble in the south. From what I have heard the situation in Rabona is dire and they have been unable to get any supplies as such. I think that it might be best that we at least try to check the situation in Rabona and help them if at all possible, is there anyone that objects to this plan?"

There was silence for a few seconds and the hall erupted in to whispers, it was hard to hear which warrior was saying what. Hysteria waited for the sound to die down and them it was Chris, who outright spoke,

"If that is the case," he looked up to Hysteria and all the others were silent, "I say we go to Rabona and crush this 'warlord' that they're talking about and put him in his place, I mean if we don't stop this guy now there's no telling what he's going to do right?"

Several of the other half yoma agreed with low murmurs. Hysteria listened carefully to what the others were saying and Miria looked at her mother. It was a look that said it all.  
"Those that wish to come we shall be travelling to Rabona as soon as possible," Hysteria looked at the heavily pregnant Chloey before she continued, "we will be travelling as swiftly as we can, so it might be best for some of us to stay back,"

No sooner had she said this then did Alicia and Beth let out low growls. They knew about as much as anyone else that Chloey wouldn't let Chris out of her sight while she was so heavily pregnant and would put up a pace to match Hysteria no matter what. Chloey was one of the most serious warriors that ever existed and she wasn't about to let the others head off and leave her behind, although sometimes she allowed as much, Chloey usually pushed her pace as hard as possible if she needed to.

The warrior in question was however about to surprise them all. Once the others were ready to move out it was clear that 'The Silent' had kindly carved a path out for them. Hysteria moved as swiftly as possible to try to catch up to Chloey, the warriors behind her moving as fast as they all could. It was when they reached the mountain pass that they finally caught up with the small warrior. She wasn't alone, Beth and Alicia were both with her, for reasons that the others wouldn't figure out. Meg and Claire both stepped up and it was clear what Chloey had been doing from the beginning. She had been clearing the way to make their trip swifter and easier.

The warriors arrived in the south without incident and made it to Rabona in record time. Hysteria could see clearly that Rabona was in trouble. She and the others arrived in to the city, rushing past what looked like tired guards. She ran straight to the cathedral and it wasn't long before she was talking to the Rabonian council.

Meanwhile a small claymore was doubled over with pain. She had pushed herself too far and she knew that it wouldn't be long before something happened that was going to change her life in the most important of ways. She was holding on to her husband's arm and was trying not to show that she was even in pain. However she knew that it would be pointless soon, with all the sensitive ears and the beat of her child's slightly distressed yoki.

Hysteria sat alongside the entire council of Rabona. It was clear that they had not trained their soldiers enough to take on anything more than minor attacks on the city. Hysteria decided that she was going to change all of that if she could. She was surprised that the council were willing to bend over backwards to help her. they listened to everything that she told them. Even making sure that they did what she told them. As a result warriors were mixed in to the Rabonian army, Alicia and Beth to play a highly special role that the two were well suited to. It was soon discovered that no one could find Chloey. However it wasn't long until Christopher came from a corridor that Vincent had explained was an area that he stayed in when he was actually in Rabona in the past. They followed him at his insistence. Hysteria noticed that Chloey's yoki was elevated and she realised what was going on. She suggested that a physician be brought at once and the humans hastened to do as she told them.

Chloey was different from Hysteria in many ways. The most important one was that she was a warrior of few words. Chloey tried to keep her pained cries to a minimum and she did a far better job than Hysteria had done so many years ago. The small warrior had greater control of her yoki and her eyes didn't even turn gold, not even when the contractions rolled through her smaller body. She gasped and let out low moans, but nothing else happened to suggest that the small warrior's time had come. She was shaking and carefully working towards giving birth to the baby that she had been carrying. Hysteria felt worried about Chloey, but Chris was right beside her. It was a few tense hours in which there was barely any sound. It wasn't until the first baby was born that there was a sound. It was the baby's cries. The small boy screaming his lungs out like there was no tomorrow. However Chloey's ordeal had only just begun.

Near the next day later two small babies were sleeping happily in their mothers arms. Their mother wasn't even going to have a moment's break and appeared as the Rabonian council were sitting down to begin discussions with Hysteria and the other older warriors. Chloey mostly listened to what was being said and was so quiet that it would have been hard to say that she was there except for the occasional cries from the babies that she was caring for. Talk turned to how Rabona was going to repel the warlord and that was when the small warrior actually spoke,

"So then if we continue to sit on our hands it will destroy Rabona and everything that is dear to you. There is only one option, and that would be to let Hysteria become the ruler of Rabona, let her build up the army and strengthen Rabona's defences. She knows what she is doing as do most of us who are half yoma, those that have been around as warriors for a long time that is. Alicia and Beth will be able to do most of the damage without really getting hurt, Alicia in her awakened form is virtually unstoppable and coupled with Miria can tip the balance in our favour. Combine that with our raw battle power and this warlord is as good as stopped," Chloey looked around the table at the humans that were seated at the table, "with the experienced warriors to guide your men we can't go overly wrong,"

The hall was silent for several minutes as the Rabonians took in what she was saying. It was then that Father Vincent stood up,

"Then we must proceed at once. If we are to have a queen, then we must do it quickly,"

His words were met with murmurs of approval,

"Very well, let us vote," said one of the priests, "All in favour of deClamont as our queen please raise your hands,"

The entire council raised their hands. Not a single person opposed the idea placed by 'The Silent' Chloey. It was decided that they would prepare for the coming war what was ahead. Chloey was to rest out and keep an eye on her sisters and help them if they needed her to. She wasn't allowed in to the battle and Chris was fine with that. In fact he had hoped that she would be kept out of harm's way as well as their children. He was pleased that his wife's role was one of an assister; she would suit that role just fine. It was also decided that she wouldn't be alone. The former trainees would stay close to her, for their own safety. There were a couple of girls that would be quite useful to get their injured comrades to safety, so they were chosen to help Chloey in the task ahead. The next day would be a short lived celebration, after which time war would be declared and one side would change the history of the city of Rabona. Miria was nervous and afraid. She didn't like the idea of having no choice but to kill humans, she knew that Chloey didn't like it either. Miria hoped that the war would end soon and things could go back to being peaceful as they had been in the north. It would suit her to have no more need to fight.


	10. Chapter X: Queen Hysteria

The humans in Rabona were rushing around the buildings with haste. Few people were even in the streets and the civilians were all being kept safe near a small warrior who was quietly standing by in the cathedral with the former trainees. She had an air of calm about her and despite the fact that she was calmly seeing to her small children, The Silent Chloey kept ears open for any sign that the humans were starting to panic. The two trainees, Marissa and Narissa, were both briefed on what they were expected to do and the two girls that were meant to be the replacement for both Alicia and Beth were as ready as Chloey could get them to be, making sure that it was clear to them what they had to do. The twin girls made it clear to Chloey that they both knew what they had to do and they were more than ready to do it. Chloey made sure that the last of the women and children were stowed safely in the cathedral while the newly crowned Queen Hysteria was outside preparing for what was going to be one of the toughest battles that the half yoma had fought in a long while.

The warlord's army was camped not too far from Rabona and it was from Rabona's cathedral that Hysteria could see that the warriors had their work cut out. She looked carefully at what she had to do and slowly came up with a plan that was about to hopefully turn the tides of the battle to create a decisive victory for her and Rabona.

The warriors pulled on their new amour that was made by the Rabonians to give them more protection than anything that the Organization could ever have produced. Hysteria spoke to the warriors and split them in to small battle units with one warrior controlling ten humans. She figured that each unit of ten was to make up a larger unit of 100 men, with the leading half yoma to be captains. She looked at those that she had fought alongside once before and Hysteria could see Miria's unit, somewhere on the flank and felt a worried feeling that only a mother would ever have when it was her baby being put in to danger. Hysteria didn't want her baby getting hurt, she wanted Miria to be safe and sound and she was willing to damn near do whatever it took to keep her daughter safe.

Hysteria called a meeting with all of the captains and she slowly voiced her plan. The sun was sinking and by the time that Hysteria was finished the night had long since fallen, the darkness still light enough that the humans would be able to make out where they were going.

The humans waited in the cold for their commanders to say exactly what they were going to do. Cid looked around the walls of the city that he grew up in with Galk and secretly was glad that he'd been in the same unit as his taller friend. Cid's head snapped up when Miria arrived. He was surprised to see that their commander was in a foul mood, or perhaps it was her poker face, he couldn't tell. Miria waited until the unit's eyes and ears were focused on her before she began,

"We are to be ready to attack now; you are not to make a sound, and kill silently," the men all looked up at Miria's command and she continued, "you are not to draw attention to what we are going to do. We will do our upmost to kill as many of the enemy as possible before they discover what we're doing."

The men muttered uneasily and Miria cleared her throat and continued, "It will be easier for us and should result in less casualties,"

It still didn't ease the air and Cid realised that Miria had another plan in that head of her's that was about to cause a decisive victory, if it fruited at all. For some reason he couldn't explain, Cid was glad that Miria had a back-up plan. Unbeknown to him and all the other humans, the back-up plan was very simple. Miria and Alicia would both work as a team in their awakened forms and wreak havoc on their sleeping enemies. It was a simple yet effective plan one that truly couldn't go much wrong.

Chloey sat nursing her children when she felt the yoki signal. No human would have felt that signal and she knew that the plan was being started. She called for Narissa and Marissa to be at the ready. The twins had their light weight amour on and the humans that were in the cathedral were sleeping, though Chloey was willing to bet they were trying to stay awake as long as they could so that they could find out what had happened as soon as they possibly could. Chloey's son's cry was enough to let her know that he was hungry and as she nursed the child, she gently tried to get him to sleep,

"Rest little Joseph," she said gently, "rest little Joseph Thomas,"

As he nursed from his mother little Joseph closed his eyes. Chloey smiled softly and then turned her focus to the battle. She could feel that Alicia was awakened and she knew at once that meant that Alicia's unit had lost the element of surprise and it wouldn't be long before Miria's yoki was also up. However Miria's yoki seemed to be calm and focused. Chloey sighed about being left behind, but she was more worried about Chris than anyone else.

Chris was grateful that the men that he had for a unit were capable of doing as they were told. No sooner did they engage their part of the camp then did his men make not one sound. Chris could hear the faint gasps as men were killed and nothing more. He did however hear a yell down to the south and the man that he was going to kill started yelling until Chris slashed him across the chest, ending the yell, but knowing that it was pointless almost to keep trying. He was right as the men started carrying on and he wondered at first who'd failed to shut up and realised that it was Alicia's unit. Chris cursed in an undertone and activated his sword technique, slashing crudely through both bedding and the men that were in the camping ground. Chris then marched forward and hoped like all hell that things were back under control before things got out of hand.

It had been one small mistake. The young man had been scare senseless and had been jumpy enough to wake up a whole campsite. Alicia had swiftly awakened and killed them all, but the damage was now done and the plan was blown. She had awakened to alert the others that their cover was blown and everywhere that she could sense was filled with warriors raising their yoki to swiftly end then entire army if necessary. Miria's deep and powerful yoki suddenly erupted and humans were running screaming with fear. Fires spread, but because of the cold air and the lack of proper fuel they became smouldering piles of hot ash.

The sun rose on a horrific scene. Bodies from all the men that Alicia and Miria had jointly managed to kill littered the entire valley that the warlord had chosen to launch his assault on Rabona only to be the death ground of his men. After checking the men it was soon found that the warlord in question had indeed been killed in the battle. Hysteria gave both Miria and Alicia full credit with ending him, and it was clear that Rabona had stamped its power without too much bloodshed. If only they knew what was to come.

Hysteria ruled Rabona with care, making sure that all the humans had what they needed and that each of the warriors had what they needed. Miria was busy breaking hearts, no sooner did she become princess then did she turn down every suitor that her mother had tried to find for her on the grounds that she didn't like any of them. Hilda was as close to Miria as ever while Alicia and Beth both grew to be just as close. Clare married Raki and their wedding was the most talked about event in the history of Rabona and Teresa cried for weeks afterwards while Rafaela told her that Clare and Raki had been that close for a long time. Teresa soon calmed down and began to try to find herself a good man. Her luck wouldn't be as good as Clare's but she knew that somewhere out there was a man that she could love. Hysteria remained single, whether or not she was being stubborn or she just couldn't find a man to her standards was often debated late in the day by the Rabonian council, who often felt that their kind hearted queen deserved a good man at her side. The warriors easily fit in to their new lives and soon things became almost peaceful in Rabona and her neighbours. At least until news arrived.

Joseph and his sister Kathy had been on scout duty when Kathy had started to shake. Joseph hadn't seen his sister do it before and he was worried that something was actually wrong with her.

"Kathy what's wrong?"  
Kathy looked at her brother and then pointed to a sight that the twins had never seen before. Joseph wished that he wasn't seeing what he was seeing. It was an army camped out in the valley near Rabona. He remembered what his mother had told him when he was born and he didn't like the look of what he saw. He didn't like the look of it at all.

…..

_Author's Note:_

_Ok I guess this is the point that you will all be asking what happens next, was the warlord really killed by Miria and Alicia. Well, you'll have to wait for the sequel now to find out…however it will start with a bit of a bang, so please look forward to it! I would also like to say a big thankyou to everyone that gave me their feedback while I was writing this fiction and I hope that you will be able to keep an eye out for the sequel that will surely follow. I'm sorry to only give you ten chapters, but I am glad to have done what I can, while this wasn't how I had planned to end it, it is rather like me to leave a cliff-hanger like this one to give you all something that is worth your reading. I also wanted to take this chance to apologise for such a long time between updates, really I do._

_Now for those of you that are just starting to read the story I would like to add something that might help you understand some of the characters. Some of the characters can be found in _The Silent Chloey: The Number 7_ and _The Silent Chloey and The Elegant Phantom_ in which the events that take place are all true up until Rockwell Hill, where sadly Hysteria dies and Chloey loses many comrades with a grief that will ultimately lead her to leave the Organization with a pure heart. She does still marry Christopher the Strong, meanwhile Meg and Claire have a few things that as sisters they must work through, like all sisters do. Heather though not mentioned in this fiction is very much an active character in _The Silent Chloey and The Elegant Phantom_ and _The Silent Chloey and the Black Twins_. Of course in the cannon a lot of things happen, and are happening to make a vastly different path. For instance Alicia and Beth both meet their deaths as awakened beings while Priscilla after killing Teresa walks away free, no skin off her nose. Chloey was forced to watch as her students broke the very rule that she instilled in to them. It was a rule that they forgot and one that cost three of them their lives on one day. If Chloey had have been there I can tell you right now that things would have ended vastly different, but she wasn't there. Who knows a challenge fiction in the making perhaps…or not. Any way I hope that you have enjoyed _The Elegant Mother_ and you come to enjoy the sequel when it comes out. To all that are watching this fiction, I would like to say thankyou again._


	11. Character List and Spolier

Character List The Elegant Mother

The Elegant Hysteria (_former warrior of the Organization, rank Number 1, mother to Miria_)

Rigaldo (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 2 awakened being, father of Miria, killed by Hysteria_)

Ermita (_Handler of The Elegant Hysteria, Quick Sword Irene, God Eye Galatea, Windcutter Flora killed by Hilda_)

Rimuto (_Chief of the Organization killed by Miria_)

Orsay (_handler of The Silent Chloey and Teresa of the Faint Smile, killed by Chloey before the fall of the Organization_)

Teresa of the Faint Smile (_former warrior of the Organization, rank Number 1_)

Phantom Miria (_Hysteria's daughter, an unranked claymore_)

Clare (_made out of Teresa's flesh, an unranked claymore_)

Quick Sword Irene (_former warrior of the Organization, ranks 2 and 3_)

Muscular Sophia (_former warrior of the Organization, ranks 3 and 4_)

Stormwind Noel (_former warrior of the Organization, ranks 4 and 5_)

Priscilla (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 2 deceased killed by Hysteria, revived by Dae, awakened and killed by Christopher and Chloey_)

Hilda (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 47_)

Raki (_a human Clare's companion and cook to the rebel warriors also an unranked claymore_)

The Silent Chloey (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 2_)

Kate (_The Silent Chloey's white wolf, who once was a former warrior of the Organization, rank 3_)

Blind Meg (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 12_)

Soft Heart Claire (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 11_)

Riful of the West (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 1 creature of the abyss in a relationship with Dauf, killed by Chloey, Hysteria and Teresa_)

Dauf (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 3 awakened being Riful's lover killed by Hysteria, Chloey and Teresa_)

Raqual (_former warrior of the Organization, rank unknown deceased killed by Riful and Dauf_)

Katea (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 32 rescued from awakening by Chloey_)

Jean (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 9_)

Rafaela (_former warrior of the Organization, ranks 2 and 5, sister of the creature of the abyss Luciela of the south_)

God Eyes Galatea (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 3_)

Luciela of the South (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 1, creature of the abyss, sister to Rafaela, killed by Rafaela and Chloey_)

Dark Alicia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 1, used primarily for her ability to awaken and revert back to human, twin sister to Beth_)

Dark Beth (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 2, used to control the awakened Alicia, twin sister to Alicia_)

Rubel (_a handler of the Organization, he was sent to spy on the Organization killed by Clare_)

Bella the Graceful

Leah the Rash

Silver Eyed King Isley of the North (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 1 creature of the abyss killed by Chloey_)

Windcutter Flora (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 8_)

Lily (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 18_)

Yuma (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 40_)

Cynthia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 13_)

Ophelia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 4_)

Veronica (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 12_)

Deneve (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 15_)

Eliza (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 17_)

Queenie (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 20_)

Helen (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 22_)

Zelda (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 24_)

Amelia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 27_)

Wendy (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 30_)

Tabitha (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 31_)

Pamela (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 35_)

Claudia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 36_)

Natalie (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 37_)

Carla (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 39_)

Yuma (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 40_)

Matilda (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 41_)

Juliana (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 43_)

Diana (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 44_)

Mia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 45_)

Marie (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 46_)

Kia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 47_)

Nina (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 9_)

Kirria (_former warrior of the Organization, rank UKN_)

Cassandra (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 26_)

Clarice (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 47_)

Rachel (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 5_)

Audrey (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 3_)

UKN Claymore, team member of Audrey and Rachel (_former warrior of the Organization, rank UKN_)

UKN Claymore, team member of Audrey and Rachel (_former warrior of the Organization, rank UKN_)

Miata (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 4, used by the Organization as a hunter of deserters and has "super" senses as well as intuition_)

Agatha (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 2 awakened being killed by Team Chloey and Team Hysteria_)

Lord Christopher the Strong deLupia (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 5 husband of Chloey_)

Dae (_Chief of the Organization's Experimental Unit killed by Chloey_)

Narissa and Marissa (_Trainee Twins obtained by the Organization when they were babies_)

Renée (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 6_)

Cassandra the Eagle Eye (_Replacement for Renée_)

Raftella (_former warrior of the Organization, rank 10, the anti-warrior_)

Joseph Thomas deLupia (_the son of The Silent Chloey and Christopher the Strong deLupia, twin brother to Kathy the signaller deLupia_)

Kathy the Signaller deLupia (_the daughter of The Silent Chloey and Christopher the Strong deLupia, the twin sister to Joseph Thomas deLupia_)


End file.
